On Thursday, May 4, a giant magnet weighing 130 metric tons left the assembly plants in Belfort on its journey to the NeuroSpin research facility at the CEA's Paris-Saclay Center (Essonne). The cutting-edge magnet, which will generate a magnetic field of 11.7 tesla[1], is the core component of the most powerful MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanner in the world to be used for human brain imaging. To make such a powerful magnet, CEA research engineers had to design an instrument larger than any other. Before it can be placed under the structure awaiting it at NeuroSpin, this magnet will travel several hundred kilometers, by road, sea and inland waterways. It arrived in Saclay on May 18 2017.