It was founded in July 2005 by the
University Duisburg-Essen (
Germany) and the
Radboud University Nijmegen (The
Netherlands). It is located on the grounds of the
UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Zollverein in the Northeast of the city of
Essen,
Germany. The industrial complex Zollverein is a former coal mine and coke processing plant which represents an industry which dominated the industrialization of the
Ruhr area in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries. The institute is named after
Erwin L. Hahn, a physicist who has made innumerable contributions to the field of magnetic resonance. The centerpiece of the institute is a 7-
tesla whole-body magnet resonance imager from
Siemens Healthcare,
Erlangen, Germany. In contrast to the magnetic resonance imagers used in hospitals and clinics throughout the world, which commonly operate at a magnetic field strength of 1.5-
tesla, the ultra high magnetic field strength of this imager provides significantly higher sensitivity for structural and functional measurements of the human body. ==References==