Mri

History of Medical Imaging

  • First X-ray picture

    First X-ray picture
    German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen takes the first x-ray picture, showing the skeletal composition of his wife's left hand. (Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany)
  • Period: to

    History of Medical Imaging

  • Hot cathode x-ray tube invented

    Hot cathode x-ray tube invented
    William Coolidge invents hot cathode x-ray tube which greatly improves on x-ray's visualization. (Mass., United States)
  • NMR spectroscopy discovered

    NMR spectroscopy discovered
    Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell came up with the idea to use magnets to take pictures of a living being with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. First step of MRI. (Mass., United States)
  • First prototype CT scanner

    First prototype CT scanner
    Godfrey Hounsfield's original CT project proposal (London, UK)
  • First clinical CT head scan

    First clinical CT head scan
    British engineer named Sir Godfrey Hounsfield and Dr. Alan Cormack use their prototype EMI Mk1 head scanner (London, UK)
  • First Body CT Scan

    First Body CT Scan
    Body scan of Hounsfield taken on the prototype scanner in the laboratories and shown at Bermuda conference on 14th March 1975.
  • First MRI full body scan

    First MRI full body scan
    First MRI body scan on humans, by Raymond Vahan Damadian et al (Nottingham, UK)
  • 30 million MRI scans in 2007

    30 million MRI scans in 2007
  • Two billion x-rays per year in U.S.

    Two billion x-rays per year in U.S.
  • 70 million CT scans in U.S. per year

    70 million CT scans in U.S. per year
    Since 1980 the frequency of scans has increased by 3 million per year.