Fonar Press Releases

For Immediate Release

The MRI Specialist™

An ISO 9001 Company

Contact: David B.Terry, V.P., Secretary

110 Marcus Drive

Daniel Culver, Director of Communications

Melville, NY 11747-4292

 

Phone: (631) 694-2929

Visit our Web site - www.fonar.com

Fax: (631) 390-9540


FONAR POSITION REGARDING NOBEL PRIZE

         MELVILLE, NEW YORK, October 16, 2003 - FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ-FONR), The MRI Specialist™, issues the following statement regarding the October 6, 2003 announcement of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. This prize was awarded to Paul C. Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield "for their discoveries concerning Magnetic Resonance Imaging" (MRI). The Nobel Assembly excluded Raymond V. Damadian, M.D., president and founder of FONAR, despite his widely acknowledged seminal discovery in 1970 that originated MRI. Dr. Damadian published his 1970 discovery originating MRI in the scientific journal SCIENCE (March 1971).
         He discovered the fundamental signal from which all MRI images are made, the dramatic signal differences between cancer and normal tissues and also the dramatic signal differences between the normal tissues themselves. All MRI pictures are constructed from these signals. In the absence of the signal differences he discovered all MRI images would be a blank. The white spots on MRI images signifying cancer would not be there but for his discovery. The exceptional detail on MRI images would not be there but for his discovery of the dramatic signal differences in the normal tissues themselves that supply the contrast in today's images, the critical soft tissue contrast lacking in prior imaging technologies like x-ray. Go to www.FONAR.com for details
         Since its inception in 1978, FONAR has been known for having as its leader the person who provided the vision and ground-breaking discovery necessary for the genesis of MRI. Given the power and the prestige of the Nobel Prize, the Company protests the outrageous exclusion of Dr. Damadian.
         As part of a new campaign, `The Friends of Raymond Damadian Committee' has been formed to pay ALL advertising costs related to the Nobel Prize controversy.
         A full-page advertisement was run in the Washington Post on October 9, 2003 and the New York Times and Los Angeles Times on October 10, 2003. The ad was titled "The Shameful Wrong That Must Be Righted" and was directed to the Nobel Committee to correct the error. Readers are asked to write the Nobel Committee and voice their opinion: The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Forum, Box 270 SE-171, Stockholm, Sweden.
         The response has been overwhelming by people who recognized Dr. Damadian's position and support him for the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The media also responded with dozens of supporting articles in newspapers and positive appearances on CNBC and CNN television news.
         Among those who have responded are patent attorneys who say that this decision to ignore Dr. Damadian is an affront to the United States Patent System. This is because the United States Court of Appeals enforced Dr. Damadian's patent, based on his heralded 1970 discovery. This was later affirmed by the highest court in the land, the United States Supreme Court. The Nobel Committee also delivered an affront to our Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush, both of whom acknowledged Dr. Damadian's contributions to mankind by awarding him the National Medal of Technology and by his induction into the U.S. Patent Office National Inventors Hall of Fame.
         The Company believes that this willful attempt to rewrite scientific history by the Nobel Committee should not be allowed to go unchallenged. It is also an affront to the elementary principles of justice which all Americans hold dear. The benefits of this campaign "To Right The Wrong" are designed to reach millions of people and set the record straight, a corrected record which is in FONAR's best interest also. As Edmund Burke once said "Evil triumphs when good and decent people do nothing."
         The Company, as always, continues its campaign to promote and install its star product the Stand-Up™ MRI and its brilliant newcomer, the FONAR 360°™ designed to enable interventional MRI technology on a broad scale.
         The Stand-Up™ MRI, FONAR's Upright™ imaging system, is the world's only whole-body MRI scanner with the ability to perform Position Imaging™ (pMRI™), i.e. patients can be scanned standing, sitting or bending in the weight bearing position, as well as lying down.

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MRI Specialist, Stand-Up, Upright, Position Imaging and PMRI are trademarks of FONAR Corporation.

This release may include forward-looking statements from the company that may or may not materialize. Additional information on factors that could potentially affect the company's financial results may be found in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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