Lauterbur's original sample was lost. I know; I looked for it. Lauterbur's experiment was done with a simple NMR spectrometer. You don't need a 'machine' to prove and implement the concept. As for the patent dispute; the point of contention on that wasn't the invention of NMR imaging as Lauterbur, Mansfield and Ernst conceived it.
Have Damadian/Fonar benefitted humankind? Debatable. By the time they got in on the act, several major instrument companies were building imagers. Damadian got a lot richer off it; but he contributed nothing of substance.
Damadian can do his worst.He's shown he's willing to use his millions to bully anyone who won't acquiesce to his ridiculous claims. You clearly think that's OK. Nice guys, both of you.
Bull, you are blinded by your worldview and your loyalty to a colleague. I have said nothing bad about Lauterbur, but you do not hesitate to belittle an acknowledged pioneer in the field. First, Damadian has patents filed. Second, these patents were useful enough to GE and others that diagnostic equipment was built using them. The proof is in the suit he won and the concessions he got from others.
Against All Odds: History of the MRI
Once the potential to detect tumors was accepted, however, Dr. Damadian had to fight off giant companies such as Hitachi and General Electric to protect his patented technology. Hitachi settled out of court, but the case against GE went to trial in 1995. In a "David v. Goliath" lawsuit, FONAR won one of the largest patent settlements on record: $128.7 million.
That is proof enough to most people that Damadian is no fraud.
Here is one comment, and note the charge at the end. It is worse than your charge against another creationist for allowing his name to be added to a study which had a portion he would disagree with.
Damadian invented Medical MRI
As a physician with a biophysics degree, I have followed the Damadian story from its beginnings. Claiming he didn't invent MRI is like saying the Wright brothers did not invent powered flight because slighly later aircraft were rather different from their original "Flyer".
T1/T2 had been around for decades. He was the first to realize and show they could be used for imaging. This is what made medical MRI possble and will be used long after the contributons of this years winners are obsolete.
Further, in the patent suit, Lauderbur's notebook revealed that he had been directly inspired by Damadian, though he never acknowledged this in his published work. This is called "citation plagarism" and is a definite no-no.
Posted by: Peter H Proctor, PhD, M at October 14, 2003 08:35 AM