Hopes are high within the global radiological community that the award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to two MR researchers will lead to greater public understanding of the benefits the technology offers.

U.S. chemist Paul C. Lauterbur, Ph.D., and British physicist Sir Peter Mansfield, Ph.D., have won the 2003 prize for their work on the development of MRI. Lauterbur, 74, was cited for his seminal experiment that showed how 2D images can be produced using the relative positions of magnetic resonant behaviors among protons in a phantom. He published those results in Nature in March 1973 while working at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Lauterbur is director of the Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In the early 1970s, Lauterbur found that localization could be achieved by superimposing a gradient magnetic field over a uniform static magnetic field. Through subsequent experiments, he determined that differences in the varying resonance frequencies in an object, such as a clamshell and water, could be converted into an image because the resonance frequency of nuclei in an external magnetic field is proportional to the strength of the field.

Mansfield, 70, was honored for subsequent research. He developed the first MRI echo-planar pulse sequence in 1976.

"He showed how the detected signals rapidly and effectively could be analysed and transformed to an image. This was an essential step in order to obtain a practical method," the Nobel Committee said. "Mansfield also showed how extremely rapid imaging could be achieved by very fast gradient variations (so called echo-planar scanning). This technique became useful in clinical practice a decade later."

Mansfield was a leader of the University of Nottingham team that developed a prototype of modern gradient-coil systems and a whole-body MR scanner. He is emeritus professor of physics at the University of Nottingham.

"We are delighted about this recognition, and we hope that the authorities will now understand better the sense of our campaign for the increased availability of MRI in France," said Prof. Guy Frija, secretary general of the French Society of Radiology.

Controversy surrounding the award of the Nobel Prize for MRI is unlikely to disappear, however. The Nobel Committee chose not to recognize Dr. Raymond V. Damadian, who was also responsible for key discoveries leading to development of the first machine that reportedly produced an MR image of a human being in 1977.

According to the Web site of the European Magnetic Resonance Forum (EMRF): "The topic is interesting, but rather sensitive. Like any history, it has no real beginning."

Damadian's laboratory work, published in Science in March 1971, postulated that differences in relaxation times could noninvasively differentiate between normal and cancerous tissue. This finding was later proved incorrect.

In 1988, Damadian and Lauterbur shared the National Medal of Technology, issued by U.S. presidential decree, for their independent contributions in conceiving and developing the application of MR technology to medical uses. Damadian subsequently defended some of his MRI patents, winning a $128 million suit against GE.

Lauterbur credited Damadian in a May 2002 lecture at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine meeting for having originated the idea that testing differences in magnetic relaxation time might in some cases be used to noninvasively diagnose cancers.

Dr. David D. Stark, radiology chair at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, where Damadian did his early work, summed up the controversy this way: Do we credit Edison with the invention of the light bulb, or do we leave his contributions behind and celebrate those who made refinements to it, such as the selection of the proper tungsten alloy?

"It is sad and somewhat surprising that the Nobel organization would embrace one of two stories, both well known and competing publicly for years, regarding the invention of MRI," Stark said.

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The Nobel laureates' career highlights

PAUL C. LAUTERBUR, born May 6, 1929

1951: B.S. in chemistry, Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland

1962: Ph.D. in chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1969-85: Professor of chemistry and radiology, State University of New York at Stony Brook

1982: Gold Medal of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

1985-90: Professor, University of Illinois, College of Medicine

1985-present: Professor and director, Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, University of Illinois, College of Medicine

1986: European Magnetic Resonance Award

1987: National Medal of Science (U.S.), Roentgen Medal, and Gold Medal of the RSNA

1999: Gold Medal of the European Congress of Radiology

SIR PETER MANSFIELD, born October 9, 1933

1959: B.Sc. Queen Mary College, University of London

1962: Ph.D. in physics, University of London

1962-64: Research associate, department of physics, University of Illinois

1964: Lecturer, department of physics, University of Nottingham

1968: Senior lecturer, department of physics, University of Nottingham

1979: Professor, department of physics, University of Nottingham

1983: Gold Medal of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

1988: European Magnetic Resonance Award

1993: Honorary Member of the British Institute of Radiology; received knighthood

1995: Gold Medal of the European Congress of Radiology

(Source: Official Web site of the Nobel Prize, www.nobel.se)