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THIS YEAR’S NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE.
VISUAL PROOF THAT THIS SHAMEFUL WRONG MUST
BE RIGHTED
NO SIGNAL, NO IMAGE.
NO SIGNAL DIFFERENCES, BLANK IMAGE.
In our effort to right the shameful wrong that has been done
to Raymond Damadian, M. D., by this year’s Nobel Prize
Committee for Physiology or Medicine, we now share with you,
in historic photographs, the “exciting discovery”
that “opened the door for a complete new way of imaging
the human body”1 and the subsequent technical improvements
that have led to today’s MRI.
These photographs and other materials are an inarguable testimony
to the truth of discovery. The only violation of the truth
– and to Alfred Nobel’s requirement to reward
only “discovery” in
medicine3 – resides in Stockholm, where unacceptable
manipulations allowed this shameful wrong to be perpetrated
and where those responsible are prepared to celebrate
both wrongs on the evening of December 10th.
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| Picture A. The Two Signals together. The
two signals together create bright cancer pixels surrounded
by darker normal pixels. The marked signal difference
discovered by Dr. Damadian supplied the needed contrast
that had been lacking from X-rays of the vital soft tissues
for almost a century. These are genuine radio signals
put out from the atoms inside the tissues when the body
is in a strong magnetic field. They are picked up by the
receiving coils of the MRI shown in the illustration.
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Picture B. The bright pixels
detecting the tumor are only in the image because of the
cancer signal discovered by Dr. Damadian. |
THE LANDMARK DISCOVERY THAT REVOLUTIONIZED
MEDICAL IMAGING
The signal we’ve illustrated above is the 1970 discovery
that “opened the door for a complete new way of imaging
the human body…. NMR [the former name of MRI] developed
into a laboratory spectroscopic technique capable of examining
the molecular structure of compounds, until Damadian’s
ground-breaking discovery in 1971.”1 The exciting discovery
that the signal from cancer tissue is much stronger2 (long
T1 and T2 relaxations) than the signal from normal tissue
prompted Dr. Damadian to propose the first MR body scanner.
To make it a reality, he invented the first method ever for
achieving an MR scan of the body. His method provided the
necessary 3-dimensional technique. This method was reported
in the Downstate Reporter, Spring 1971, and was recorded in
his 1972 patent.
Paul Lauterbur, one of this year’s Nobel Prize winners
in medicine, did not attempt to improve Damadian’s method
until the fall of 1971. He proposed the application of the
magnetic gradient of Gabillard, Carr, and Purcell, but his
initial effort simply replicated the 1-dimensional technique
they had demonstrated in the 1950’s.
The first ever scan of a live human being was achieved by
Damadian, using the method of his patent (see historic image
below).
NO SIGNAL DIFFFERENCES, BLANK IMAGE
The MRI image is only there because of the signal differences
in tissues that Dr. Damadian discovered. The marked difference
of the two signals supplied the contrast needed to see cancer.
This difference had been lacking in X-ray pictures for almost
a century and badly hampered the ability of medicine to detect
serious disease within the body.
DAMADIAN’S LANDMARK WORK WITH NORMAL
TISSUES
When Dr. Damadian was measuring the strength of the cancer
signal, he had to measure the strength of the NMR signals
from a variety of normal tissues. This was necessary so he
could compare the signals from normal tissue of the same type
as the cancer tissue. During the process, he measured the
NMR signal differences from a full range of normal tissues,
including muscle, liver, stomach, small intestine, kidney
and brain.
Although a number of random measurements had previously been
made on isolated normal tissues, he was the first to measure
a full spectrum of normal tissues under identical conditions
– using the same magnetic field strength, same animals,
and same NMR method – thereby making a direct comparison
of their signal strengths possible. He tabulated them in his
Science paper. He discovered that the signal strength
differences among the healthy tissues were also enormous –
a range of 132%, compared with X-ray’s maximum variation
of 4%. For example, a difference of 257 milliseconds for the
small intestine and 595 milliseconds for the brain.
No wonder Dr. Freeman Cope, an NMR collaborator of Dr. Damadian's
on other NMR studies, told Dr. Damadian, "Your cancer
paper contains a second discovery. No one has ever reported
a comparison study of the healthy tissues. There are major
differences here as well."
The dramatic differences in signal strength among healthy
tissues create the dramatic differences in pixel brightness
that enable modern MRI machines to provide exquisite detail
of the internal anatomy, such as the detailed structure of
the brain.
WHAT THE TWO WINNERS CONTRIBUTED
The two winners the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine
have chosen to honor for the MRI did nothing more, or less,
than contribute improved ways to image the tissue signals
that Dr. Damadian discovered.
It was, however, only after the two winners – the chemist
and NMR specialist Paul Lauterbur, Ph. D., witnessed a repeat
of Damadian’s landmark experiments and Damadian’s
experiments were brought to the attention of Peter Mansfield,
Ph. D.– that they began to think about the possible
applications of magnetic resonance to medicine.
THE MRI’S UNPRECEDENTED ABILITY TO DETECT
DISEASE
For nearly 100 years, the detection of disease within the
soft tissue of the human body was limited by the X-rays inability
to see soft tissue clearly. It could distinguish it with a
maximum contrast of only 4%. On the other hand, Damadian’s
breakthrough discovery was the extraordinary difference in
the contrast between MR signals from cancer tissue and normal
tissue. It was as high as 182% -- or over forty times greater
than the X-ray. Here was indeed an unprecedented new tool
for the early detection of disease.
As stated in the new MRI imaging textbook (MRI From Picture
to Proton, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2003): “This
exciting discovery [of Damadian’s] opened the door for
a complete new way of imaging the human body where the potential
contrast between tissues and disease was many times greater
than that offered by X-ray technology and ultrasound.”
In Damadian’s ground-breaking 1971 paper he used the
word “detection” many times but he never once
used the word diagnosis. Some non-medical people misunderstood
why. There is a medical reason. The detection of disease is
different than the diagnosis. Detection comes first, diagnosis
second. All medical imaging machines are only meant to detect.
Diagnosis can only be done with a needle biopsy of the lesion
in the image and an examination of it under the microscope
– a second step required no matter what kind of imaging
machine is used to detect the disease.
With the observations by others who were following up Damadian’s
discovery, it was found that most disease tissues also have
strong signals. Therefore, Damadian’s initial cancer-signal
discovery actually opened the door to the early detection
of far more diseases than he originally imagined.
TODAY’S MRI MACHINES
The cancer signal discovered by Dr. Damadian is the engine
that powered the MRI from the outset and continues to power
every MRI machine in use today.
Of the contributions made by the two scientists
named for this year’s prize in medicine and Raymond
Damadian, only Damadian’s discovery is still in use
on every MRI scanner, every day, throughout the world. The
improvements of Damadian’s original 3-D scanning technique
by both Lauterbur and Mansfield have been replaced worldwide
by the spin-warp imaging technique invented in 1980 by the
University of Aberdeen group of Hutchison, Edelstein, and
Mallard. A subsequent train of other inventors have made many
more improvements since then.
Millions of cancers are detected around the world each year
because of the Damadian cancer signal. The early detection
that this highly sensitive signal allows is saving millions
of lives every year, as well as preventing untold agony. It
is also sparing millions of patients from unnecessary surgeries,
and it is providing more frequent assessments of therapy,
so the therapies can be modified to achieve success.
THE COMMITTEE KNEW THE TRUE HISTORY OF MRI
The true history of MRI is copiously documented, and all
the documentation was meticulously and repeatedly provided
to the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine over the
years that the award for the MRI has been under consideration.
The scandalous truth is, the NMR clubhouse of Nobel insiders
are attempting to rewrite the history of the MRI and write
Raymond Damadian, M. D., out of it for the false distinction
of their cronies.
The historical evidence is so compelling, no wonder The High
Court of U.S. Patents and The U.S. Supreme Court concluded
that Damadian’s cancer-detecting method and cancer signal
are used on all of today’s MRI’s. Both courts
concluded that the way modern MRI’s use the signal differences
discovered by Dr. Damadian and the way they output them as
pixel brightness represent an “insubstantial difference”
from his patented use of the signals to detect cancer. And
no wonder President Reagan in awarded Damadian The National
Medal of Technology for the MRI in 1988 (jointly with Lauterbur).
Then in 1989 Raymond Damadian was inducted into The National
Inventors Hall of Fame, which was established by the U. S.
Patent Office, as the sole inventor of the MRI. (We also find
Alfred Nobel in this hallowed hall.)
Without an immediate reconsideration that would include Dr.
Damadian in this year’s award for medicine, Nobel insiders
will have heaped irremediable shame on the prize and, in fact,
will render this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine scornfully
irrelevant to history, as well as a violation of the will
of Alfred Nobel.
AN OUTRIGHT VIOLATION OF ALFRED NOBEL’S
WILL
Alfred Nobel was very meticulous in specifying what each
award was to be given for. In medicine he specifies that the
prize for the person who “shall have conferred the greatest
benefit to mankind” must be limited to “discovery.”3
He does not allow inventions or improvements, as he does in
chemistry and physics. Yet inventions or improvements are
the only things this year’s Nobel Committee has chosen
to honor, while it excluded the only scientist who made the
discovery that originated MRI.
WEAK EXCUSES JUST WON’T DO
The shameful wrong of Raymond Damadian’s exclusion
has yet to be honestly addressed and courageously righted.
One of the leading Nobel spokesmen, to evade the issue pressed
on him because of Damadian’s long-recognized seminal
discovery and other MRI achievements, recently informed the
press: “We’re only giving the award for the image.”
Where on earth would the image be without Damadian’s
signal from tissues? Is this not like honoring the invention
of the automobile while excluding the invention of the engine
that drives it? Or as an MRI physicist wrote to the Nobel
Committee, “It’s like honoring the bicycle for
transportation while excluding the wheel.”
Here is another inexcusable tidbit, sent by two senior officials
of the Nobel Committee to a knowledgeable and well-meaning
scientist who had written them about this outrage. “You
mention that you interpret our rules to mean that November
15 is the date of our yearly Award decision. The answer is
that our statues state that the award decision is to be made
no later than October. This means that our yearly deadline
is October 31…. You seem to suggest that another person
deserves the Prize and that there is an issue. The answer
is that our statues prohibit us to reveal our discussions,
evaluations, nominations, and considerations.”
Who would call that the high-minded voice of moral humanity
defending a valid decision? What we have instead is a persistent
refusal to acknowledge the truth and honor it. Alfred Nobel
mentions nothing about statutes
in his will. More importantly, the “statutes”
of Nobel’s will itself appear to be of no consequence
to the Nobel Committee, since, we note, they alter them whenever
they like. So who can take seriously Committee statutes that
do not even appear in Nobel’s will?
THE ONLY STANDARD IS THE TRUTH
There is only one pedestal on which the Nobel Prize can rest
if it is to remain the world’s preeminent award for
scientific achievement: the pedestal of truth, truth inviolable.
It was Damadian’s idea to make the MR body scanner4.
And he provided the signal to do it5.
And he provided the first-ever scan method to accomplish
it6.
And the first human image ever by using it.
Willfully exclude him? Can you imagine!
As Alfred Nobel said, “Lying is
the greatest of all sins.”3
THREE WINNERS CAN BE NAMED
In our effort to right the shameful wrong that has been done
to Raymond Damadian, M. D., and, along with it, to the will
of Alfred Nobel, we appeal to concerned citizens everywhere
to let your voices be heard in protest to this shameful treatment
of the man who has been widely regarded as the inventor of
the MRI for nearly 30 years and the shameful wrong to the
very inventor who established the Nobel Prize.
We ask you now to join the worldwide outcry and insist that
this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine be based on the
truth of scientific discovery and on the will of Alfred Nobel.
Let your voice be heard, now.
1. MRI From Picture to Proton, Cambridge University
Press, UK, 2003
2. A strong signal and a signal with an elevated relaxation
time or prolonged decay rate are identical statements. In
the T2 image shown, the relation of signal strength to decay
time is given by S = e exp -TE/T2, where S is the signal strength.
Note that as the signal decay time increases (T2 increase),
the signal strength simultaneously grows (TE held constant).
3. Nobel e-Museum
4. The first time ever in history anyone dared such an idea
5. The cancer-detecting signal that provided the goal worth
pursuing such a scanner and the goal worth investing in its
construction
6. Spring, 1971, U. S. Patent #3,789,832
For more documentation, visit www.fonar.com.
TIMELINE OF MRI
1969
Original Concept
Damadian conceives of and proposes a whole-body MR scanner
for the first time ever
1970
Key Discovery Makes MRI Possible
Damadian identifies the T1 and T2 signal differences (that
is, the signal strength differences2) between cancer tissue
and normal tissue
March 1971
First article published
Damadian publishes his first article about his findings in
the journal Science
Spring 1971
Scanning Method Proposed
Damadian outlines his voxel-by-voxel scanning method, recorded
in his 1972 patent. It works.
September 1971
Gradient Method Proposed
Lauterbur’s notebook proposal to use the gradient methods
of Gabillard, Purcell & Carr
to scan 1 dimension as Gabillard did. It’s incomplete:
3 dimensions are needed.
March 1972
First Patent Filed
Damadian files patent for his 3-dimensional voxel-by-voxel
scan method (patent issued in 1974)
October 1972
2D Scan (image) Achieved
Lauterbur submits a 2-dimensional MR scan (image) method with
scan of 1mm tubes
March 1973
2nd Paper Published
Lauterbur’s second paper (2-D image) is published in
Nature
1974
3D Scan Method Proposed
Garroway, Grannell & Mansfield publish a 3-dimensional
scan method
1975
Phase Coding Introduced
Kumar, Welti & Ernst introduce phase coding
1977
First Human Scan Achieved
Damadian and two of his graduate students, Minkoff and Goldsmith,
achieve the first scan (image) of the human body, using Damadian’s
original voxel method. It is a cross-section of Minkoff’s
chest, completed 4:45 AM, July 3, 1977
1980
Phase Coding Applied
Aberdeen group of Hutchison, Edelstein, and Mallard achieves
successful spin-warp technique in use throughout the world
today to make MRI images
1980
First Commercial MRI
Damadian – and the company he forms for the practical
application of MRI technology to medicine – introduces
the first commercial MRI scanner, utilizing his patented voxel
method
1997
Patent Upheld
High Court on U. S. Patents and the U. S. Supreme Court enforce
Damadian’s patent, finding an “insubstantial difference”
between how modern MRI’s produce an image and his T1
and T2 discoveries.
 PHOTO
1: Raymond V. Damadian, M. D., at the NMR in his Brooklyn
laboratory, measuring the signals from human tissues. It’s
the same instrument model he used to make the original discovery
that “opened the door for a complete new way of imaging
the human body…”1
 PHOTO
2: Dr. Damadian with his postdoctoral research fellows, L.
Minkoff and M. Goldsmith, and the first MR scanner, which
the team built by hand at New York’s Downstate Medical
Center.
 PHOTO
3: The world’s first MR scan (image) of the human body,
completed on a cross-section of Minkoff’s chest by Raymond
Damadian, M. D. and his team, utilizing the method of his
patent.
 PHOTO
4: President Reagan presenting Dr. Raymond Damadian with the
National Medal of Technology for his foundational contribution
to the MRI (awarded jointly to Raymond Damadian and Paul Lauterbur)
In addition to making the original discoveries
on which all MRI’s are based (T1 and T2 tissue relaxations)
and building the world’s first MRI by hand. Dr. Damadian
also invented the first Open MRI, the first mobile MRI, and
now the first Stand-Up™ MRI.
HOW YOU CAN HELP RIGHT THIS SHAMEFUL
WRONG
Insist that this shameful wrong be righted,
now.
To: The Nobel Committee for Physiology or
Medicine
Dear Member of the Nobel Committee: The truth
must have a place. I/We believe this year’s Nobel Committee
for Physiology or Medicine should include Dr. Raymond Damadian.
Name______________________________________________
Address____________________________________________
City___________________State_________Zip Code________
Write to: The Nobel Committee for Physiology
or Medicine
Nobel Forum
Box 270 SE-171,
77 Stockholm, Sweden
E-Mail to: secr@med.nobel.ki.se
Please CC DanielCulver@aol.com
Or call the Committee at: 011-46-8-585-823-44
or
011-46-8-662-64-31 or 011-46-8-517-745-00
For more documentation, visit www.fonar.com.
Paid for by Friends of Raymond Damadian. Contact DanielCulver@aol.com
or call him at 631-694-2929.
All facts are public record. Details available on request.
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