Raymond Damadian
From magnetic resonance to medical imaging
Raymond Damadian was an Armenian American physician and inventor, born in 1936. At New York’s Downstate medical centre, he investigated the use of nuclear magnetic resonance to study biological tissues.
His experiments identified differences in the resonance properties of some normal and cancerous tissues. In 1977, his team used an experimental scanner to produce an early MRI image of a human torso, an important step towards whole-body examination.
Damadian also contributed to the commercial development of MRI equipment and received the US National Medal of Technology in 1988. He died in 2022. His contribution belongs to a history of medical imaging shaped by the combined achievements of many scientists and engineers.