Lucky Hazards

Dr. Myer Bloom is beloved for his irrepressible zest for life, and equally respected for his extraordinary scientific achievements. In Lucky Hazards, Bloom recounts his many adventures and accomplishments, beginning with his formative years in Jewish Montreal. He was born in 1928 and raised in a family that encouraged him to plot his own course. He soon became an accomplished athlete, ultimately playing basketball for McGill University. It was almost by accident that Bloom settled on an education and career in science. He embarked on an impressive thirty-year career as a professor of physics at the University of British Columbia, where his lab, Room 100, became renowned as a place where magic happened. There he mentored countless graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and brought together scientists in a variety of cross-disciplinary projects. Bloom was a pioneer in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance research. Myer Bloom’s story sheds light on his deep passion for life and his work, and his belief that creativity is an essential part of science. It’s a fascinating look inside the mind of an extraordinary man.

Dr. Myer Bloom is beloved for his irrepressible zest for life, and equally respected for his extraordinary scientific achievements. In Lucky Hazards, Bloom recounts his many adventures and accomplishments, beginning with his formative years in Jewish Montreal. He was born in 1928 and raised in a family that encouraged him to plot his own course. He soon became an accomplished athlete, ultimately playing basketball for McGill University. It was almost by accident that Bloom settled on an education and career in science. He embarked on an impressive thirty-year career as a professor of physics at the University of British Columbia, where his lab, Room 100, became renowned as a place where magic happened. There he mentored countless graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and brought together scientists in a variety of cross-disciplinary projects. Bloom was a pioneer in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance research. Myer Bloom’s story sheds light on his deep passion for life and his work, and his belief that creativity is an essential part of science. It’s a fascinating look inside the mind of an extraordinary man.

Dr. Myer Bloom holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from McGill University and a PhD in physics from the University of Illinois. First appointed to the University of British Columbia faculty in 1957, Dr. Bloom held the rank of Professor from 1963 to 1994, when he was appointed Professor Emeritus. Dr. Bloom’s outstanding contributions have been recognized with many prestigious awards, including the Sloan and Guggenheim Fellowships, the Steacie Prize and the Canada Council Killam Memorial Prize for Natural Sciences. He has received honorary degrees from the Technical University of Denmark, Concordia University and the University of British Columbia and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American Physical Society and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.