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Developments in medical imaging – timeline

This timeline provides an overview of some of major developments in medical imaging.

8 November 1895 – X-rays discovered

X-rays are discovered by German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen. He takes the first X-ray image, showing the skeletal composition of his wife’s left hand.

1895 first X-ray image - a hand with a wedding ring.

The first X-ray

When German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895, he took an X-ray image of his wife's hand that clearly showed the bones of her hand as well as her wedding ring.

Rights: Public Domain – worldwide

January 1896 – First use of X-rays

X-ray images are initially a novelty. However, by the end of the year, doctors around the world, including those in New Zealand, are using them.

1946 – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

American physicists Edward Purcell and Felix Bloch independently discover nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).

1952 – Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded jointly to Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell for ‘their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith’.

1955 – Ultrasound for medical diagnosis

Ian Donald, a Scottish physician, begins to investigate the use of ultrasound to diagnose gynaecological patients.

1957 – Fibre-optic endoscope developed

The first fibre-optic semi-flexible gastroscope is patented by gastroenterologist Basil Hirschowitz and co-workers at the University of Michigan.

1958 – Ultrasound research published

Ian Donald publishes his defining paper on medical diagnostic ultrasound. He then turns his attention to the use of ultrasound in obstetrics and in investigating the growth of the foetus during pregnancy.

1960 – First use of endoscope

The endoscope, now in commercial production, is used to examine the stomach of a patient.

1967 – CT scanning conceived

Godfrey Hounsfield, an English electrical engineer, conceives the idea for computed tomography.

An empty CT Scanner machine at a hospital.

CT Scanner

The CT machine has an X-ray tube and X-ray detectors on opposing sides of a ring that spins around the platform that the patient lies on. This platform also slides through the ring and the ring can move around, so the X-ray beams can follow a spiral path.

Early 1970s – NMR cancer detection

Scientists discover that normal and cancerous tissues produce different NMR responses.

1971 – First CT scan of patient’s brain

The first CT scanner is installed in Atkinson Morley Hospital, Wimbledon, England, and the first patient brain scan is performed on 1 October 1971.

1973 – First MRI images produced

American chemist Paul Lauterbur produces the first magnetic resonance image (MRI) using nuclear magnetic resonance data and computer calculations of tomography.

Dr Paul Lauterbur (1929–2007) with bookcase behind him.

Dr Paul Lauterbur

The work of US chemist Dr Paul Lauterbur (1929–2007) made the development of MRI possible, and he was awarded a Nobel prize in 2003.

Rights: Photo courtesy of Stony Brook University  

1974 – PET camera developed

American Michael Phelps develops the first positron emission tomography (PET) camera and the first whole-body system for human and animal studies.

3 July 1977 – First human MRI body scan

The first MRI body scan is performed on a human using an MRI machine developed by American doctors Raymond Damadian, Larry Minkoff and Michael Goldsmith.

3 July 1979 – Nobel Prize

Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan McLeod Cormack share the 1979 Noble Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their part in developing computer assisted tomography.

Early 1980s – MRI in hospitals

MRI scanners are installed in hospitals.

1990s – Prenatal ultrasound becomes routine

Ultrasound becomes a routine procedure in pregnancy to check the baby’s development and to pick up any abnormalities.

Ultrasound of an unborn baby

Ultrasound of an unborn baby

Ultrasound is a medical imaging technique that uses high frequency sound waves and their echoes. The sound waves are above human hearing, and the echoes from the sound waves bouncing off tissue inside the body are turned into electrical pulses that can be put together into a digital image, such as this one of an unborn baby.

Rights: Private collection

2000 – Medical invention of the year

Time Magazine names the PET/CT scanner the medical invention of the year.

2003 – Nobel Prize

Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield share the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering MRI work.

2014 – Human colour X-ray scanner

In September 2014 the University of Canterbury was given $12 million to build the world's first human colour X-ray scanner. Read more about X-ray technology for the future.

Published:21 July 2007