THE FEATURE
STORY
MRI
Hazem Bahaa
When someone mentions the word “MRI”, the first thing that pops into most people’s minds is
probably hospitals, because that is where the “Magnetic Resonance Imaging” device is usually
found. However, what most people do not know is that the technology used in the “Magnetic
Resonance Imaging” device was originally developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
with the intention using it to enhance more in depth images of the moon’s surface.
In 1938, physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi discovered a phenomenon called the nuclear magnetic
resonance, which was based on the re emission of electro magnetic radiation by the nuclei
when exposed to a magnetic field, in other words, tiny radio waves are given off by the nuclei
of atoms when they absorb a magnetic field. This was considered one of the most effective
revolutions in the field of physics, because of the numerous applications in many fields. In
1959, graduate of the California institute of technology, Robert Nathan went to the Jet Propulsion lab in NASA to help in enhancing the imaging tools used for viewing the moon’s surface;
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