NEWS OF THE WEEK NOBEL
PRIZE
the Nobel Prize was awarded for MRI without recognizing Damadian's discovery. Damadian received the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and the National Medal of Technology in 1988 (with Lauterbur), and he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1989 for his role in the invention of MRI. Hansjornvall, secretary of the bones, and nuclear medicine can Nobel Prize selection committee look at certain types of function, at the Karolinska Institute, tells but MRI is the method that is C&EN that the committee nevunique in its ability to see changes er comments on people not selected for the prize. in the soft tissue of the body" Lauterbur and Mansfield The choice of the two Nobel Laureates has ignited a contro- helped turn MRI into a practical versy, however. A full-page ad paid technique. In the early 1970s, for by Fonar Corp. appeared in Lauterbur, then a professor at the the Washington Post, on Oct. 9, State University of New York, three days after this year's prize Stony Brook, realized that twowas announced, calling it "the dimensional images could be genshameful wrong that must be erated by introducing gradients righted." Fonar was founded by into the magnetic field, so that Raymond Damadian, who is con- different tissues are exposed to sidered by some to be the origi- different magneticfieldstrengths. nal inventor of MRI. In 1970, \ftforking separately Mansfield adDamadian discovered that nor- vanced thefieldby showing how mal and cancerous tissues have the signals could be mathematimarkedly different relaxation cally analyzed and transformed intimes in their MR signals. That to an image. In addition, Mansfinding, which was published field showed how rapid imaging more than 30 years ago [Science, could be achieved by using fast 171,1151 (1971)}, formed the ba- gradient variations. sis for subsequent work on MRI. MRI quickly found its way inAccording to Fonar Commu- to clinical use. Commercial sysnications Director Daniel Culver, tems were available by the early the company was "stunned" that 1 9 8 0 s . —CELIA HENRY
MEDICINE PRIZE RECOGNIZES MRI
Chemist and physicist honored for developing powerful diagnostic tool
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HE 2 0 0 3 NOBEL P R I Z E I N
Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to chemist Paul C. Lauterbur, 74, of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and physicist Sir Peter Mansfield, 70, of the University of Nottingham, in England, for their contributions to the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). "[MRI] is one of the few things that have happened in the last 50 years that has had an incredible and immediate impact on the lay public," says Russell E.Jacobs, a researcher at California Institute of Technology's Biological Imaging Center. In 2002, more than 60 million MRI procedures were performed. "Before we had MRI, we were very limited in our ability to see differences within the soft tissues," saysJohn C. Gore, director of the Institute of Imaging Science at Vanderbilt University "Xrays are very good at looking at
Lauterbur
Mansfield
ACS N E W S
National Chemistry Week Soars To New Heights
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merican Chemical Society members from across the country will celebrate National Chemistry Week from Oct. 19 to 25. The annual event aims to communicate chemistry's positive effects on everyday life. This year's theme—"Earth's Atmosphere and Beyond!"—honors the centennial of Orville and Wilbur Wright's historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. All 189 ACS local sections and some 10,000 volunteers are expected to participate in chemistry-related activities during NCW, including seminars, science demonstra-
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tions, and college visits for high school students. In support of the theme, many local sections will honor pioneers in aviation and atmospheric chemistry. Industry support is also vital to the program: Last year, about 70 chemical companies and organizations donated time and resources to support NCW. "National Chemistry Week is the time of year when chemists, regardless of discipline, join together in celebration of chemistry's contributions," says David Harwell, manager of the ACS Office of Community Activities.
New this year is the "Chemvention Competition," which challenges student affiliate chapters to develop a device that can measure the amount of oxygen in air as accurately as possible. The catch: Student affiliates can spend only $100. A congressional resolution recognizing NCW was introduced in the House on Oct. 8 by Reps. Vernon J. Ehlers (RMich.) and Rush Holt (D-NJ.). More information about NCW can be found at http://chemistry.org/ncw.— AAL0KMEHTA
HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
