Damadian's research interests led him to experiment with N.M.R. technology, exposing atomic nuclei to a magnetic field in order to cause the emission of radio waves at consistent frequencies. In 1971 Damadian invented the MRI as a professor at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He was using NMR technologies to study halophiles, a form of bacteria and potassium ions in cells. In that year the journal Science publishes milestone research paper of Damadian’s findings on “Tumor Detection by Nuclear Resonance Imaging”.
Raymond Damadian made an important contribution to the fields of science and medicine when he built the first nuclear magnetic resonance (N.M.R.) body scanner.
On July 3, 1977, the first MRI body scan was conducted on a human. It took five hours to produce one image of the patient. After the scan, Damadian and his partner, Dr. Michael Goldsmith, named the machine “Indomitable,” a reference to their struggle to develop the technology.
Damadian decided to take his invention and start his own business - FONAR. The company, which was incorporated in 1978, sold its first commercial MRI scanner in 1980. Damadian’s MRI was granted FDA approval for the device in 1984.
Dr Raymond Damadian - an American physician and inventor of the first MR scanning machine
