The Nation - News from July 11, 1986

Scientists said they have produced the world’s most powerful continuous magnetic field, a force about 700,000 times stronger than Earth’s. The feat was accomplished in March at the Francis Bitter National Magnetic Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was reported in this month’s edition of Applied Physical Letters. The new record of 336,000 gauss surpasses the previous record of 300,000 gauss, set in 1977. Gauss is a measurement of magnetic fields, with the Earth’s magnetic field measuring 0.5 gauss.