The first clinical material employing an ideal method was published by Bernhard Ziedses des Plantes in 1932.
The computed tomographic (CT) scanner was conceived in 1967 by British engineer Sir Godfrey Hounsfield at EMI Central Research Laboratories using x-ray technology. By recording on sensors rather than x ray film and taking multiple pictures from a rotating photon source, a series of “slices” could be photographed that showed the different density of tissues.
The first patient studies were performed on Friday, October 1, 1971 in Wimbledon, England but it was not publicized until a year later.
He continued to improve the quality of the devise and the human head was scanned for the first time in 1972. He co-invented the technology with physicist Dr. Allan Cormack.
However, it was the mathematical theory of Johann Radon way back in 1917, called “Radon transform,” that brought the technology to life. He demonstrated that the image of a three-dimensional object can be constructed from an infinite number of two-dimensional images of the object.
Another mathematical advancement that Hounsfield built on is the “Algebraic Reconstruction Technique,” which was formulated by Polish mathematician Stefan Kaczmarz in 1937. Stefan Kaczmarz proposed a simple method, called the Kaczmarz algorithm, to solve iteratively systems of linear equations Ax = b in Euclidean spaces. This procedure employs cyclic orthogonal projections onto the hyperplanes associated with such a system.
Both theories by Johann Radon and Stefan Kaczmarz were adopted by Hounsfield to create one of the greatest advancements in medical history.
In 1973, the first CT scanners were installed in the United States. Sir Hounsfield would go on to share the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Allan M Cormack.
Invention of Computed tomographic (CT) scanner by Sir Godfrey Hounsfield
