Department News
UIC Breaks Ground for World's Largest Magnet

The world's most powerful functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) magnet is expected to be operating by summer 2003 at UIC's Center for Magnetic Resonance Research on the west campus.

Ground breaking for the $10 million building began this summer. The 9.4 tesla magnet will be about 100,000 times stronger than Earth's magnetic field. It will enable researchers to observe brain metabolic activity that cannot be observed with today's imaging scanners. Here are some facts on the new project:

• Magnet weight: about 50 tons.
• An order for the magnet was submitted to Magnetic Scientific, an English firm, in 1999. The magnet will be shipped across the Atlantic to New York City, then by truck to Chicago.
  
• About 500 tons of steel two feet thick will encircle the magnet to confine stray magnetic fields that would disrupt the magnet's function.
  
• To protect the magnet from vibrations from street traffic and a nearby public transit line, the steel will sit on a separate foundation that will rest on caissons sunk 90 feet below ground.
  
• The magnet will require constant, precise control of temperature, humidity and stable electrical power supply.