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GNHounsfield.org
A site about Godfrey Hounsfield
Notable firsts
November 1967 - Godfrey Hounsfield first suggests working on CT to his employer EMI and to his colleague Stephen Bates.
23 August 1968 - Godfrey files his first CT patent application and begins discussions with Cliff Gregory at the UK Ministry of Health (DHSS).
First prototypes: 1968-1969 - tests ideas using an old lathe bed. 1970-1971 - builds prototype CT scanner for clinical use in hospitals.
1 October 1971 - first clinical CT scan.
The first press release was on 19th April 1972. CT caused a revolution in radiology and replaced painful techniques such as the “air study”. First public announcements were in London, UK on 20th April 1972 at a BIR conference, and in New York, USA on 19th May 1972 at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine / Montefiore Hospital.
November 1972: First award: the MacRobert Award,
December 1973: First full clinical article: Dr James Ambrose (Ambrose J. “Computerized transverse axial scanning (tomography): Part 2. Clinical application.” British Journal of Radiology, 1973;46;1023-1047)
First article in the American literature on CT Scanning: Leonard M. Freeman (ch 19 in “Tomographic imaging in Nuclear Medicine” ed. Gerald S. Freedman, published 1973 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine). A full clinical article was published in January 1974 (Paul F. J. New, William R. Scott, James A. Schnur, Kenneth R. Davis, and Juan M. Taveras. “Computerized Axial Tomography with the EMI Scanner” January 1974 Radiology, 110, 109-123)
First piano recording “Godfrey Scans The Keys” featuring Dave King.
Godfrey’s Nobel Prize in November 1979 was the first award in the new field of computerized medical imaging.
LINKS TO VIDEO, MUSIC AND TEXT
(All are subject to copyright)
Patent history by Strong & Hurst
Hounsfield describes prototypes
Video about first seeing CT scans
Biography extract on MacRobert
Copyright acknowledgements: The Higson and Strong&Hurst documents and video of Bill Ingham & Godfrey are courtesy of the BIR. Press release document and videos of Godfrey with the lathe-bed and of Dr James Ambrose and of the “air study” are courtesy of EMI Group Archive Trust. The video about first seeing CT scans is courtesy of Dr Scott Klioze. Piano courtesy of Matt King. Other documents have notes on copyright in the linked files.