104: Inside Job

This time we focus on how nuclear magnetic resonance evolved into a way to peer inside a living creature, that is, magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. We start with early researchers from the 1950s and 1960s, Jay Singer, Erik Odeblad, and Raymond Damadian. Damadian actually patented a primitive method of MRI, but it didn't catch on. We then hear about Paul Lauterbur's work, then a race between Peter Mansfield and Ray Damadian to create the first live human image and full-body scan in the 1970s. The 1980s and 1990s saw the development of "contrast agents", mostly gadolinium compounds, to improve the image.Support the showSupport my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistryTell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at [email protected] my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook