MRI pioneer awarded Millennium Medal

PA 306/09 Sir Peter Mansfield, The University of Nottingham's Nobel Laureate for Physiology and Medicine, is to be recognised, once again, for his part in one of the most important breakthroughs in medical science. Sir Peter, who was co-inventor of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is to be presented with the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Millennium Medal at an awards ceremony at the Trent Building, The University of Nottingham on Monday November 30 2009. The MRC Millennium Medal recognises an MRC funded scientist for outstanding research which has made a major contribution towards the health and wealth of our society. Sir Peter, along with the late Paul Lauterbur, harnessed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to visualise the internal structure of complex objects. In 1976 they produced the first human NMR image, a finger complete with bone, bone-marrow, nerves and arteries. Their research revolutionised the world of diagnostic medicine and in 2003 received world acclaim when Sir Peter and Paul Lauterbur shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Sir Peter's invention of an extremely fast scanning MRI technique, known as echo-planar imaging (EPI), underpins the most sophisticated MRI applications in clinical use today.