Origins of MRI

The BBC ran a feature on Wednesday, 4 July about the 70th anniversary of the NHS when the invention and development of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) was described as if it originated from the University of Aberdeen.

Whilst researchers at Aberdeen made an important contribution to the technology, the principal research team was based at Nottingham University, led by Professor Peter Mansfield, who subsequently was knighted in 1993 for his work. Originally called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, this major UK invention was carefully patented by the then National Research Development Corporation, which was later privatised by the Thatcher government to become the British Technology Group (BTG), which still exists.

The technology was originally offered on licence to the British GEC company which was unwilling to fund further development on the invention but Philips in the Netherlands and Toshiba in Japan had no such inhibitions and went on to produce these vital machines now used worldwide.

COLIN DALE

Greenbank Gardens, Edinburgh