GREAT AMERICANS-- RAYMOND DAMADIAN AND THE MRI

Raymond was born in New York in 1936, and early on studied violin at the Julliard School of Music. He broke away from music after a short while. However he was to turn to his great love math and science, with studies in mathematics and chemistry as an undergraduate. He aspired to cure cancer, and went on to become a doctor. Damadian's research interests led him to experiment with N.M.R. technology, where he exposed atomic nuclei to a magnetic field in order to cause the emission of radio waves at consistent frequencies. The young scientist was instrumental in adapting this technology for use on the human body where, as a scanner, it could detect abnormal tissue.

His greatest failing was his abrasive/aggressive personality. He alienated potential funders and fellow scientists studying N.M.R., who looked down upon him for being "only" a physician, not a Ph.D. In 1974, he received a patent for his Magnetic Resonance Imaging (M.R.I.) technique and several years later he conducted the first successful body scan.  He built the first nuclear magnetic resonance (N.M.R.) body scanner in July 1977. Perhaps because he over-hyped his discovery, or because his early M.R.I. scanners looked primitive, Raymond had little luck in attracting research funding. So he went commercial, selling his first N.M.R. scanner in 1980. He successfully sued General Electric for patent infringement in 1997, winning a $128.7 million judgment. But by that time, his company, Fonar, had annual revenues of $13 million.

Safe and accurate, the MRI scanner is in constant use today to examine soft tissue and detect a variety of medical conditions. In fact sixty million patients worldwide benefit from its images. Damadian continues to advance the technology of the instrument and has been acknowledged for his efforts with major awards. Sadly he was shut out of a share in a Nobel Prize. You can see his original M.R.I. machine today as it is housed in the Smithsonian.