Illustrated History of Radiology (X-Ray, CT, PET, MRI, Ultrasound)
By Brian Nett, PhD / History
In this post we present a brief history of Radiology equipment focusing on the major developments which lead to x-ray Radiography, CT, SPECT, PET and Ultrasound imaging.
Piezo-electric effect discovered
Ultrasound Predecessor
French physict brothers Piere and Paul-Jacques Curie discovered that when pressure is put on certain crystals that electricity comes out. This effect is used on all modern ultrasound imaging systems.
X-Rays Discovered
X-Ray Imaging Predecessor
Rontgen discovered the unknown particles and hence called them x-rays as x typically is an unknown variable.
Radioactivity Discovered
Nuc. Med. Predecessor
Becquerel, Marie Currie and Piere Currie discovered radioactivity, with a Uranium rock being the first demonstration of radioactive decay.
Nobel Prize Physics
Discovery of X-rays
Rontgen given the first Nobel prize in physics for the discovery of X-rays.
Nobel Prize Physics
Discovery of Radioactivity
Becquerel, Marie Currie and Piere Currie granted Nobel prize in physics for the discovery of radioactivity.
Ultrasound for Subs
Ultrasound Imaging Predecessor
French physicist Paul Langevin uses ultrasound waves to detect submarines. Langevin had studied with Piere Currie and later was romantically involved with Marie Currie.
Math for CT invented
Mathematical Background for CT imaging
Austrian mathematician Johann Radon publishes the mathematical background for projection based imaging used in early CT, PET, SPECT and the first MR imaging.
Positron Discovered
PET imaging predecessor
Carl David Anderson discovers the positron which is the anti-particle of the electron and produces two photons via an annihilation event when a positron nears and electron.
First Radar
Ultrasound predecessor
During the first world war British scientists Watson and Watt built the first practical RAdio Detection And Ranging (RADAR) system by observing reflections of electromagnetic waves in a similar manner to medical ultrasound later observing reflections of sound waves.
Nobel Prize Physics
Discovery of the positron
Carl David Anderson wins the Nobel prize for discovering the positron.
NMR demonstrated
MRI predecessor
American physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi demonstrates Nuclear Magnetic Resonance for the first time.
First Computer
Digital imaging predecessor
The first electronic digital computer named Colossus was built for the British Army in the second world war. It was oversee by Max Newman. This marked the beginning of the computing age which is a vital invention for all modern digital imaging including.
Nobel Prize Physics
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Isidor Isaac Rabi for the first experimental demonstration of the NMR effect in a molecular beam.
NMR demonstrated in solids
MRI predecessor
Separate experiments by Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell demonstrated NMR in solid materials such as paraffin wax and water.
Nobel Prize Physics
New methods in NMR
Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell demonstrated NMR in solid materials such as paraffin wax and water.
Gamma Camera Invented
SPECT predecessor
Hal Anger develops the Gamma camera, also referred to as the Anger camera.
First use of ultrasound in obstetrics
Scottish physician Ian Donald of the University of Glasgow demonstrated soft tissue imaging in the abdomen.
First Positron Tomography
PET Predecessor
Sy Rankowitz and James Robertson of Brookhaven National lab invent the first transverse positron imaging device designed for the brain.
CT Invented
British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield of EMI Laboratories and physicist Allan Cormack of Tufts University generated the first generation of CT scanner that would take hours to acquire an image.
MRI Invented
The first MRI images were generated in a laboratory setting by Paul Lauterbur.
CT Nobel Prize
British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack receive the Nobel prize for Computed Tomography.
First PET-CT scanner
In a project lead by David Townsend and Ronald Nutt the first PET-CT scanner was build at Univeristy of Pittsburg Medical Center.
MRI Nobel Prize
Paul Lauterbur for first developing a method to make 2D images and Peter Mansfield demonstrated the first human images. Mansfield himself was the first human scanned in an MRI machine.