Gutowsky's work was essential both in understanding the behavior and capabilities of NMR as a scientific instrument and relating it to core concepts in chemistry. Understanding and applying NMR involved chemical, physical and electronic expertise. Gutowsky employed a variety of strategies to ensure that the observed results that he and others were obtaining with NMR were consistently described, understood, and theoretically explained. Through rigorous calculation, convergence, calibration, experimental characterization, and correlation to chemical concepts, he developed experimental control of NMR as a scientific instrument, and "connected results obtained in chemical physics to the concepts and needs of organic chemists."