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Nobel Laureate Paul C. Lauterbur, developer of MRI, dies at age 77
Champaign, IL, 27 March 2007: Paul C.
Lauterbur, a University of Illinois professor of
chemistry who was
awarded a Nobel Prize in 2003 for his pioneering work in the development of
magnetic resonance imaging, died this morning at his home in Urbana, Ill.
The cause of death was kidney disease. Lauterbur was 77 years old.
A member of the faculty at Illinois since 1985, Lauterbur shared the Nobel
Prize for physiology or medicine with Sir Peter Mansfield of the University
of Nottingham in England.
Lauterbur was among the first scientists to use nuclear magnetic resonance
spectroscopy in the study of molecules, solutions and solids. In the early
1970s he began applying the same technology to biological organisms. As in
other NMR experiments, Lauterbur put his subjects – he first used a clam –
inside a powerful magnetic field and collected the resulting radio signals
that were emitted by atomic nuclei within the tissues. He discovered that
using a static magnetic field and varying the intensity of a second magnetic
field across his subjects yielded clearer signals, allowing better imaging
of different tissues.
Mansfield, a physicist, improved the utilization of magnetic gradients and
showed how the resulting signals could be mathematically analyzed.
“Through his life and his work, Paul Lauterbur exemplified the ideals of the
University of Illinois – creativity, passion, tenacity, and most
importantly, commitment to mankind,” said Richard Herman, the chancellor of
the Urbana campus. “Paul’s influence is felt around the world every day,
every time an MRI saves the life of a daughter or a son, a mother or a
father. He will be greatly missed.”
Lauterbur, who was born May 6, 1929, in Sidney, Ohio, earned a doctorate in
chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in 1962 and a bachelor’s degree
in chemistry in 1951 from Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland.
He was a professor in the department of chemistry at the State University of
New York at Stony Brook from 1963 to 1985, when he joined the faculty of the
University of Illinois
College of Medicine. In his 22 years at the U. of I., Lauterbur also had
appointments or affiliations with the
Center for Advanced Study,
the Beckman Institute,
the department of
electrical and computer engineering and the department of physiology and
biophysics (now two units: the department of
molecular and
integrative physiology and the
Center for
Biophysics and Computational Biology). At the time of his death, he was
a Center for Advanced Study professor of chemistry, biophysics and
computational biology and
bioengineering. He
also was the Distinguished University Professor of Medical Information
Sciences.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Lauterbur received the following honors and
awards: Technology Award of the Eduard Rhein Foundation (2003); National
Academy of Sciences Award for Chemistry in Service to Society (2001); Kyoto
Prize from the Inamori Foundation of Japan in recognition of lifelong
research accomplishments in advanced technology (1994); Order of Lincoln
Medallion, the state of Illinois’ highest award (1992); Franklin Institute’s
Bower Award for Achievement in Science (1990) and the Albert Lasker Clinical
Research Award (1984). Lauterbur was a member of the National Academy of
Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science and of the American Physical Society.
He is survived by his wife, U. of I. physiology professor Joan Dawson; a
daughter, Elise Lauterbur, a student at Oberlin College; a son and daughter
from his first marriage: Daniel Lauterbur, of Perry, Mich., and Sharyn
Lauterbur-DiGeronimo, of Selden, N.Y. Lauterbur’s first wife, Rose Mary
Caputo, lives in East Setauket, N.Y.
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