Researched
CT and MRI scanning
Computers reconstruct 3D images of organs from X-rays or magnetic resonance without cutting.
Open in the interactive tree →Godfrey Hounsfield built the first computed-tomography scanner; its first clinical scan was in 1971 (Nobel Prize 1979 with Allan Cormack). Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield turned nuclear magnetic resonance into magnetic resonance imaging in the 1970s (Nobel Prize 2003), and Raymond Damadian's team made the first human body scan in 1977. Superconducting magnets and fast computers made MRI practical, and the images guide diagnosis, surgery and brain research.
Prerequisites
- Fourier Analysis1822Scanners reconstruct images from raw signals with Fourier transforms
- X-rays1895
- Superconductivity1911
- Quantum Mechanics1925MRI is based on nuclear spin, a quantum property, as measured in NMR
- Nuclear Physics1938
- Programmable Computer1941
- NMR Spectroscopy1946MRI is nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the body
- Fast Fourier Transform1965MRI images are reconstructed from Fourier-transformed signals