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50 Years of Innovation
1960 - 2010
1960 - 1965: The Beginnings
Prof. Guenther Laukien
The formation of the Bruker Company is principally down to one man. Günther Laukien studied physics at Tübingen before moving to the Institute for Experimental Physics in Stuttgart in 1952. Dedicating himself to NMR, he conducted post-doctoral studies in NMR Spectroscopy and in 1958 published a pioneering paper on high-frequency nuclear magnetic resonance. This paper described the theoretical aspects of what was known at the time, while also covering the practical aspects of constructing experimental systems. In 1960, he was appointed Professor for Experimental Physics in Karlsruhe.
Around that time, laboratories in the US were already building the first high-resolution NMR systems for use in analytical chemistry. Prof. Laukien recognized the power in this technique and the need for an impulse spectrometer not yet produced commercially. He set out to fill this need by establishing his own company.
Foundation of Bruker Physik-AG
- Bruker Physik AG’s first operational facility in Hardtstraße, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Bruker Physik-AG was officially incorporated on September 7, 1960. The new company’s first operational facility was located in the backyard of a Karlsruhe residence, producing laboratory magnets and corresponding power supplies. The development of an NMR pulse spectrometer began immediately.
By 1963, the rapidly-growing Bruker-Physik AG employed a staff of 30 developing early high-resolution NMR and EPR spectrometers. With a rapidly expanding market, Bruker quickly outgrew its first facility, so the purchase of a large area of land in Rheinstetten near Karlsruhe led to the first purpose-built premises. The first office outside Germany soon followed, opening in France in 1964.
Why the name Bruker?
When Bruker was founded, University professors in Germany were not allowed to commercialize research while being in a position of research and teaching.
Since Professor Laukien could not be named as a founding member, co-founder Dr. Emil Bruker provided his name to the new company.
High-Resolution NMR at Trüb Täuber
- 1960: 25 MHz permanent magnet KIS NMR system.
Meanwhile, in Zurich, a company by the name of Trüb Täuber maintained a small research department for the research and development of NMR spectrometers, although its main concern at the time was the manufacture of measurement and test equipment for the electrical industry.
Their NMR research had benefited directly from close collaboration with the ETH in Zurich, namely Professors Guntard and Primas, and Dr. Richard Ernst, who, in 1991, was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The first Trub Tauber system, KIS, operated at 25 MHz using a permanent magnet.
By 1962, Trüb Täuber’s competitors had introduced higher field systems, and the KIS 2, a new generation of spectrometers based on a five-ton magnet was introduced for high-resolution spectroscopy at field strengths up to 90 MHz. Around twenty KIS 25 MHz and KIS 2 instruments were installed in Switzerland, France, Belgium and Germany. In the mid-60s, Trub Tauber fell into financial difficulty. Wanting to preserve its NMR department, Prof. Laukien founded a new company: Spectrospin AG. 
1965 - 1970: Technological Leadership in NMR