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Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive {1}

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Paul Christian Lauterbur was born in 1929 in Sidney, Ohio. He attended Case Institute of Technology, an engineering school now part of Case Western Reserve University, where instead of studying engineering, he studied and graduated with a degree in chemistry. After graduating, he was, in his own words, "tired of lectures and professors, and determined to get back to lab work," so he accepted a position at Dow Corning Corporation in their Mellon Institute laboratories, where as an employee he was able to take graduate courses for free at the University of Pittsburgh, so he "overcome [his] distaste for academics and [took] a few courses²." It was in these graduate courses that he began to learn about nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). While preparing to begin a project on NMR spectroscopy of silicon compounds he was drafted into the Army, where he served in the SPP (Scientific and Professional Personnel) program, specifically working the the Medical Laboratories². When he learned that a different unit had just purchased an NMR machine, but were not familiar with how it worked, he managed to get transferred in order to assist in setting it up². Through work in this lab, he was able to publish four papers. Upon leaving the Army, he returned to the Mellon Institute, where he was provided his own NMR machine². After eventually receiving his Ph.D. he became an associate professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, "[getting] over [his] own distaste for professors by becoming one [himself]²." There, he set up another new NMR lab. Later, in 1971, while sitting on the Board of Directors for a company that distributed specialized NMR equipment and supplies, it was discovered that the company was bankrupt. Being a trusted member of the Board, he was persuaded to take over as President, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of the company, or risk the company being closed². During the summer of that year, while in this new position, and ultimately short-lived position, is when he observed experiments being done with NMR and tumor-bearing. It was then he began to wonder if more detailed, less invasive studies could be done using NMR technology. It was this initial inquiring that led to the invention and current use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology². Lauterbur was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 for his discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging². At the time of the award, he was working at the University of Illinois where he had switched his research focus from MRI technology to biochemistry, which is where he finished out his career, and eventually passed in 2007².

The MRI is an invaluable tool used every day in hospitals around the world to diagnose and treat patients with varying pathologies. This fact alone make studying the origins of this technology riveting, but learning that the development of the MRI has roots in Ohio, is why I chose to look further into the work of the Nobel Prize winner, Paul Lauterbur.

{1} https://www.nobelprize.org/images/lauterbur-13686-portrait-mini-2x.jpg
{2} https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2003/lauterbur/biographical/

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On November 8, 1895 a discovery was made that would revolutionize healthcare. William Röntgen, a professor of physics at the University of Würzburg in Germany was conducting experiments on light emissions from what were called "Crookes tubes," which would emit light when a high voltage current was passed through it³. He soon realized that these tubes produced an invisible ray that could pass through objects, including soft tissue and produce an image on the other side, making bones visible. Using his wife's hand, seen above, he created the first x-ray images2,3. The implications of this technology in medicine were recognized immediately and the discovery led to the first Nobel Prize in physics for Röntgen in 19011,3. Not wanting the recognition, he donated his winnings to his university and refused all patents in order for the technology to be used worldwide³.

The discovery of x-rays was the beginning of non-invasive imaging of the human body, providing the blueprint for future imaging technology, including the MRI.

{1} https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.14140706
{2} https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200111/images/photographic.jpg
{3}https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200111/history.cfm

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Images of photographic plates from the original Stern-Gerlach experiment for zero magnetic field (left) and non-zero magnetic field (right). 

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Subatomic Particles Produce a Magnetic Field

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Subatomic Particles Produce a Magnetic Field

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In 1921, Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach performed an experiment in which atoms were passed through a magnetic field². This experiment demonstrated that subatomic particles, protons, neutrons and electrons, produce a distinct magnetic field, as you can see above, in the image on the right1,2. This experiment led to Stern being able to measure the magnetic moment of a proton in 1933, resulting in him being awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1943³. This discovery would prove to be a vital first step in the eventual development of MRI technology, as MRIs rely entirely on the magnetic field of protons⁴.

{1} https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physics-experiment/figure13.jpg
{2} https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/50657724/electron-spin
{3} https://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-Stern
{4} https://my-ms.org/mri_physics.htm

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Isidor Isaac Rabi (right), discovers NMR in 1938, the precursor for MRI. {3}

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In 1938 Isidor Isaac Rabi built upon Stern’s molecular beam method by performing studies in which he sent a beam of molecules through a magnetic field and showed that they could be made to emit radio waves at specific frequencies, thus discovering NRM technology1,2. The apparatus that he developed was used as a tool to measure the properties that he and Stern described³. As a result of these experiments, Rabi is credited with the discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance and was subsequently awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 19442,3. NRM technology is the basis of how MRI works, so without this discovery, MRI, as we know it today, would not have been possible.

{1} https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.14140706
{2} https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1944/rabi/biographical/
{3} http://scihi.org/isidor-isaac-rabi/

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Diagram of Purcell's 1945 experiment for detecting resonant absorption of hydrogen nuclei in paraffin {3}.

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In 1946, Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell independently devised a method to measure nuclear magnetic moments, resulting in a Nobel Price for both in 1952 for physics². Purcell went further and discovered the use of NMR technology on solids and liquids, furthering the discoveries and research done by Rabi1,2. Although Rabi is credited with discovering NMR, he did so using very specific conditions that do not exist naturally in nature. Bloch and Purcell, on the other hand, demonstrated the use NMR in naturally occurring circumstances using water and paraffin, a solid wax often used in candles and other products³. This was a necessary transition in order to be applied to human tissue, as used in MRI.

{1} https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.14140706
{2} https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)63313-2/fulltext#relatedArticles
{3} https://mriquestions.com/uploads/3/4/5/7/34572113/9059405_orig.gif

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Godfrey Hounsfield stands beside the EMI-Scanner in 1972 {2,3}.

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The First Human Computed Tomographic Images

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The First Human Computed Tomographic Images

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In 1971, using the x-ray technology developed earlier, the first CT scan let doctors look into the skull³. Godfrey Hounsfield, a British engineer, was interested in developing a way to look inside Egyptian pyramids without disturbing them, his original purpose for the use of this technology never came to fruition, instead it provided a way to non-invasively look inside the human head, unfortunate for archaeologists, but a groundbreaking discovery for medicine³.

While CT scans provide important information, and are faster than MRIs, the images are not as clear and they don't provide as much detail as an MRI. The development of the CT led directly to the use of NMR technology being used to produce MRIs.

{1} https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.14140706
{2} https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/p2QwQ3RCpgTzGuAwEOYjzFFsCig=/fit-in/1600x0/filters:focal(741x88:742x89)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/33/1a/331a2367-0640-42b6-ade3-947ce4ac5933/godfrey_hounsfield.jpeg
{3} https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/fifty-years-ago-the-first-ct-scan-let-doctors-see-inside-a-living-skull-180978792/#:~:text=The%20first%20computed%20tomography%20image,to%20Stockholm%20and%20Buckingham%20Palace.

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Finally, we come to the first images taken by MR technology in 19731,2. These images were obtained by Paul Lauterbur working at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He went on to publish these images in Nature in 1973. Lauterbur attempted to coin this technique "zeugmatography" after the Greek word, zeugma, meaning "that which is used for joining," as you can see it used in the description of the image above².

{1} https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.14140706
{2} https://mri-q.com/who-invented-mri.html

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In 1977, an English physicist Sir Peter Mansfield captured images of his grad student, Andrew Maudsley’s, finger. This would be the first time that a human body part had been successfully scanned with NMR technology². Mansfield's work in NMR led to him receiving the Nobel Prize alongside Lauterbur³. These first scans, though a crude, showed that images could be obtained quickly as each layer was scanned in about 15-23 minutes, much shorter than other imaging available at the time².

{1} https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.14140706
{2} https://rad.washington.edu/blog/featured-history-magnetic-resonance-imaging/
{3} https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2003/lauterbur/lecture/

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In 1977, the same year the first human magnetic resonance images were published, Raymond Damadian constructed the first full-body human MR scanner. He also became the first to perform a full-body scan of a human being to diagnose cancer that year1,2. It is because of these accomplishments that he is known as the Father of MRI².

{1} https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.14140706
{2} https://affordablemri.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/WhoInventedTheMRI.jpg

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First Commercial Intravenous MRI Contrast Agent

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First Commercial Intravenous MRI Contrast Agent

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In 1987, the first commercial intravenous MR imaging contrast agent hit the market¹. This contrast, gadopentetate dimeglumine, contained chelated gadolinium. MRI showed further benefit over CT as far less contrast was needed to produce diagnostic level images². Since the introduction of this first commercial contrast, many others have been produced, with varying benefits². The use of contrast in MRI, as you can see above changes and image drastically, allowing for better, more accurate diagnoses.

{1} https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.14140706
{2}https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-663c2032fe5b9f2ff1b79af9a84c830e-lq

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If you've ever had to have an MRI or have ever seen any medical drama, you know how massive an MRI machine is. They are so large they require their own, specially built room, requiring patients to be transported to it, rather than the other way around. Because of this, access can be limited to patients who are too unstable to be transported safely.

In 2020, the first portable MRI machine was cleared by the FDA and in 2021, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center was one of the first to receive one to use1,2. This astounding use of technology will eliminate many of the barriers in place preventing patients from receiving life-saving diagnoses and treatment, and it would not have been possible without all of the advances in medical imaging previously discussed here.

Check out this video on the new portable MRI.

{1} https://www.medgadget.com/2020/02/worlds-first-portable-mri-cleared-by-fda.html
{2} https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/mediaroom/pressreleaselisting/ohio-state-among-first-in-nation-to-scan-patients-brains-at-bedside-with-portable-mri