Peter Mansfield

Early life Mansfield was born in Lambeth, London on 9 October 1933, to Sidney George (b. 1904, d. 1966) and Lillian Rose Mansfield (b. 1905, d. 1984; née Turner). Mansfield was the youngest of three sons. – and understanding how the radio signals from MRI can be mathematically analysed, making interpretation of the signals into a useful image a possibility. He is also credited with discovering how fast imaging could be possible by developing the MRI protocol called echo-planar imaging. Echo-planar imaging allows T2* weighted images to be collected many times faster than previously possible. It also has made functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) feasible.

Whilst working at Nottingham University, Mansfield tested the first full body prototype, installed just before Christmas, 1978. Mansfield was so keen, that he volunteered to test it himself and produced the first scan of a live patient. The prototype machine is now an exhibit, in the Medical Section of the Science Museum.

Awards and honours

1983 Gold Medal of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 1984 Joint award of the Royal Society Welcome Foundation Gold Medal and Prize. 1986 Elected Fellow of Queen Mary College (now Queen Mary University of London) 1987 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) He had two daughters.

Mansfield died in Nottingham on 8 February 2017, aged 83.