Magnet Academy: Paul Lauterbur

Chemist Paul Lauterbur pioneered the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for medical imaging. He developed a technique, now known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in the early 1970s that involves the introduction of gradients in the magnetic field employed for NMR and analysis of the data obtained to produce two-dimensional images of organs and soft tissues. The non-invasive technique was later improved for practical application by Peter Mansfield, an English physicist. Lauterbur and Mansfield shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 for their work with MRI, now widely used.