Raymond V Damadian

Raymond V Damadian (1936-) is a pioneer in the field of MRI and inventor of one of the first MRI scanners.

Early Life

Raymond Vahan Damadian was born on March 16^th 1936 in New York City and was a child prodigy. He studied violin at the Juillard School of music for eight years and did his first degree in mathematics and was also an accomplished tennis player. He qualified in medicine in 1960 from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine ¹.

Development of MRI

His early research work was on the role of the potassium ion in cells, which he studied with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In 1971 he wrote an important paper in Science showing that tumour cells detected by NMR would have longer relaxation times. He invented the MRI scanner (1972) and believed its role in detecting cancer would be an important one at a time when he faced much scepticism. In 1978 he founded the Fonar corporation to produce and develop the MRI scanner ¹.

Accolades

In 1988 he shared the USA National Medal for Technology with Paul Lauterbur for their development of MRI ¹.

Nobel Prize Controversy

In 2003 Damadian was not co-awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology, which went to Peter Mansfield and Paul Lauterbur for their role in developing MRI. This decision by the Nobel Committee caused much controversy at the time and is still debated today ¹.

Later life

Content pending

Legacy

Damadian is remembered for his major contribution to the development of MRI and the controversial decision of the Nobel Committee to not award him a share of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.