ONE of the world's most powerful magnets has been installed in science laboratories at Oxford, thanks to a joint effort by scientists at Oxford University and Oxford Instruments.

The magnet at the Clarendon Laboratory has already beaten a record - just two days after it was installed.

Scientists generated the highest continuous magnetic field ever achieved in the UK in the new laboratory, where other pioneering magnets will be installed to produce high pulsed fields.

High magnetic fields allow researchers to investigate new materials as well as looking at how matter behaves in extreme conditions, like those at the beginning of the universe.

In the 1950s, Professor Nicholas Kurti carried out pioneering work on super-conducting magnets at the Clarendon, helping to show how high magnetic fields could be created at temperatures only a few degrees above absolute zero.

Recently researchers have discovered how to operate the magnets at slightly higher temperatures - though still very cold.

Sir Martin Wood set up Oxford Instruments in 1959 at his home, because he believed there was a market for the huge magnets he was making in the lab with Professor Kurti. Today the company employs thousands of people all over the world and its magnets are used in everything from medical scanners to atom-smashing machines.

The university magnet group, now led by Harry Jones, is developing new superconducting magnetic coils which could improve future industrial and medical diagnostic equipment.

A team led by Dr Philip Klipstein is studying materials to be used to make ultra-small electronics for the next generation of computers.

Story date: Monday 07 February

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