Mansfield, Peter (1933–)

A British physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 together with Paul Lauterbur, Peter Mansfield contributed to the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a computerized scanning technology that generates images of internal body structures, particularly those with soft tissues. The MRI is of particular use in the examination of the brain and the spinal cord and in preoperation examinations as it gives surgeons precise information of where a particular lesion is located. It has also proved a fundamental tool in the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of cancer. Since its development, the MRI has replaced more invasive techniques of examination and has considerably reduced suffering for patients.

Mansfield was born into a working-class family in Lambeth, London, on October 9, 1933. After the war, Mansfield attended Peckham Central School for a year. At 15, Mansfield left school and went to work first as a printer assistant and then at the Ministry of Supply at [Page 1066]the Rocket Propulsion Department in Westcott, Buckinghamshire. After two years of National Service in the army, Mansfield returned to his job in Westcott, but also started to study for A-levels. In 1956, he was able to gain university entrance, enrolling at Queen Mary College, University of London, for a degree in physics. Since his undergraduate studies, Mansfield developed an interest in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), first discovered in the 1950s by Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell. NMR technology is at the base of MRI. Mansfield went on to postgraduate studies, always researching NMR technology, and graduated in 1962. As part of his postdoctoral program, Mansfield carried out research in the United States at the University of Illinois at Urbana.

Upon his return to England, Mansfield was offered a Lectureship at the University of Nottingham. It was while at Nottingham that Mansfield developed his research that would contribute to the application of NMR technology to the human body and thus to the development of MRI. Mansfield succeeded in showing how the MRI radio signals can be mathematically analyzed and he created the MRI protocol called echo-planar imaging.

For his contribution to the creation of MRI, Mansfield received many awards in addition to the Nobel Prize such as the 1983 Gold Medal of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. He was also elected Fellow to the Royal Society, London, and was knighted in 1993.