Notable people · Scientist · Chemist · Nobel Laureate
Paul Lauterbur
Born in Sidney, Lauterbur built a home lab as a teenager and became the chemist who showed that magnetic field gradients can make images, the idea behind MRI. He shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Peter Mansfield.
At a glance
- Born
- 1929-05-06
- Died
- 2007-03-27
- Education
- Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, OH, BS chemistry
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, to 1962, PhD chemistry
- Known as
- Scientist, Chemist, Nobel Laureate
- Organizations
- Stony Brook University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Life story
Paul Christian Lauterbur was born in Sidney in 1929 and was of Luxembourg ancestry. As a teenager he built his own lab in his parents' basement.
He earned a chemistry degree at Case Institute of Technology and a PhD at the University of Pittsburgh (1962). The idea for MRI came to him, as the story goes, at an Eat'n Park restaurant in Pittsburgh, where he sketched it on a napkin. At Stony Brook (1963-1985) he showed in the 1970s that magnetic field gradients could make two- and three-dimensional images and even tell different kinds of water apart.
He moved to the University of Illinois in 1985 and taught there with his wife, Joan Dawson. He shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Peter Mansfield, a choice Raymond Damadian publicly protested. Lauterbur died of kidney disease in 2007.
Timeline
- 1929-05-06: Born (Sidney, OH) source
- 1962: PhD, University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA) source
- 1963: Joins Stony Brook University (to 1985) (Stony Brook, NY) source
- 1970s: Shows gradient imaging that makes MRI possible (Stony Brook, NY) source
- 1985: Moves to University of Illinois (Urbana, IL) source
- 2003: Nobel Prize with Peter Mansfield (Stockholm) source
- 2007-03-27: Dies in Urbana (Urbana, IL) source
What Paul is known for
- Conceived MRI imaging with magnetic field gradients (1971-1973)
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2003 (shared with Peter Mansfield)
Honors and things named for them
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2003)
Family
- wife: Joan Dawson
Ohio places
Where Paul Lauterbur was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Born: Sidney, Shelby County ZIP 45365 · Sidney · Shelby County
- Worked: Stony Brook, New York, Suffolk (New York) County
- Worked: Urbana, Illinois, Champaign (Illinois) County
Myths and corrections
- Disputed: Raymond Damadian said he deserved the 2003 MRI Nobel for his early MRI patent work and took out newspaper advertisements. A New York Times editorial backed the committee, saying Lauterbur's and Mansfield's work went well beyond Damadian's.
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.
- Wikipedia: Paul Lauterbur birth Sidney; basement lab; education; MRI idea; Stony Brook 1963-85; Illinois; Nobel 2003; Damadian dispute; death 2007