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In 1877, Pierre Currie and Jacques Currie, who are brothers, discovered piezoelectricity. The piezoelectric effect is what is used by ultrasound transducers to send and receive sound waves. Reference: http://www.ultrasoundschoolsinfo.com/history/
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In 1915, a physicist named Paul Langevin was asked to invent a device that could detect objects at the bottom of the sea. He invented the hydrophone, which is what is referred to as the "first transducer". A hydrophone converts acoustic energy into electrical energy and is used for listening only. The picture to the left is a hydrophone. Reference: http://www.ultrasoundschoolsinfo.com/history/
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Karl Dussik, a neurologist, was the first physician to use ultrasound for a medical diagnosis. He used it to attempt to diagnose brain tumors. Dussik and his brother, Freidrich, also attempted to image the cerebral ventricles by measuring the transmission of the beam through the skull. They called this procedure hyperphonography. Reference: http://www.radiologytoday.net/archive/rt_120108p28.shtml
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By 1963, Donald Baker had developed spectral analysis from the continuous wave Doppler. This was done based on the time-interval histogram. The time-interval histogram can give information about the waveform of a vessel. It developed later into what is now the Fast Fourier Transform. Reference: http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/baker.html
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In 1964, the first fetal cardiac pulsation was detected by Wayne Johnson and Robert Rushmer. It was done with continuous wave doppler. This discovery eventually led to the first fetal pulse detector called the Doptone. Reference: http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/baker.html
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In 1966, Don Baker, Dennis Watkins, and John Reid designed the first pulsed Doppler ultrasound technology. This allowed the blood flow in the heart to be detected at different depths. This was discovered because the continuous wave and did not give a lot of information. Reference: http://www.ultrasoundschoolsinfo.com/history/
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By 1975, many advancements were made in the development of pulsed Doppler imaging. Velocity waveform and flow images were put into color and combined with M-Mode and 2D gray-scale images to create duplex Doppler.
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In 1975, the first duplex Doppler scanner appeared and became commercially available. Duplex scanning was still new to physicians and they weren't quite sure how to use it at first. Attached is a video of a current duplex Doppler ultrasound of the carotid artery. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-SJxeMInDM) Reference: http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/baker.html
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In 1986 at the University of Tokyo, Kazunori Baba developed three-dimensional images of a fetus and captured them. These were the first 3-D images to be taken. Reference: http://www.ultrasoundschoolsinfo.com/history/
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In 1989, the first 3D ultrasound machine was available on the market. This machine was called the Combison 330. It was used to visualize the fetal face, cerebellum, and cervical vertebrae. Reference: http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/history3.html
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In 1996, 3-dimensional power Doppler was first described by C.J. Ritchie. This is useful for visualizing intra-tumor blood flow. The image to the left is a 3D power Doppler image of a neonatal brain. Reference: http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/history3.html
