An Earth's field magnetometer that utilizes the free precession of protons

Abstract

This paper describes the instrumentation of a new type of device for measuring the absolute value of, as well as small changes in, the earth's magnetic field. The author's work on this device was accomplished at the Varian Associates research Laboratory and Palo Alto, California, during the period January to March, 1954, while a student at the Electronic Engineering curriculum at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. The idea that the technique described in this paper would be a feasible method for masuring the earth's magnetic field was conceived by Dr. Russell Varian and a basic patent on use of this technique was granted to him in 1948.