Cormack , Allan Macleod

Cormack , Allan Macleod
(1924–) South African physicist
Born in Johannesburg in South Africa, Cormack was educated at the University of Cape Town. He became interested in x-ray imaging at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Johannesburg, where he worked as a physicist in the radioisotopes department. In 1956 he moved to America where he served as professor at Tufts University, Massachusetts, until his retirement in 1994.
Cormack was the first to analyze theoretically the possibilities of developing a radiological cross-section of a biological system. Independently of the British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield, he developed the mathematical basis for the technique of computer-assisted x-ray tomography (CAT), describing this in two papers in 1963 and 1964, and provided the first practical demonstration. X-ray tomography is a process by which a picture of an imaginary slice through an object (or the human body) is built up from information from detectors rotating around the body. The application of this technique to medical x-ray imaging was to lead to diagnostic machines that could provide very accurate pictures of tissue distribution in the human brain and body. Hounsfield was unaware of the work of Cormack when he developed the first commercially successful CAT scanners for EMI in England.
Cormack also pointed out that the reconstruction technique might equally be applied to proton tomography, or to gamma radiation from positron annihilations within a patient, and he is investigating these as possible imaging techniques.
Cormack shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Hounsfield for the development of CAT.

Scientists. . 2011.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cormack,Allan MacLeod — Cor·mack (kôrʹmək), Allan MacLeod. 1924 1998. South African born American physicist. He shared a 1979 Nobel Prize for developing the CAT scan x ray technique. * * * …   Universalium

  • Cormack, Allan MacLeod — ▪ 1999       South African born American physicist (b. Feb. 23, 1924, Johannesburg, S.Af. d. May 7, 1998, Winchester, Mass.), formulated the mathematical algorithms that made possible the development of the cross sectional X ray imaging process… …   Universalium

  • Allan MacLeod Cormack — Allan McLeod Cormack Allan MacLeod Cormack (né le 23 février 1924 et mort le 7 mai 1998) est un physicien sud africain, devenu américain en 1966. Il obtint le prix Nobel de médecine en 1979 pour sa contribution à l invention de la… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cormack — Allan Macleod …   Scientists

  • Allan — /al euhn/, n. a male given name. * * * (as used in expressions) Cormack Allan MacLeod Nevins Allan Penzias Arno Allan Poe Edgar Allan * * * …   Universalium

  • Allan McLeod Cormack — Allan MacLeod Cormack (né le 23 février 1924 et mort le 7 mai 1998) est un physicien sud africain, devenu américain en 1966. Il obtint le prix Nobel de médecine en 1979 pour sa contribution à l invention de la tomodensitométrie, connue sous le… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cormack — [kôr′mak] Allan (MacLeod) 1924 98; U.S. physicist, born in South Africa * * * …   Universalium

  • Cormack — [kôr′mak] Allan (MacLeod) 1924 98; U.S. physicist, born in South Africa …   English World dictionary

  • Allan McLeod Cormack — Infobox Scientist name = Allan MacLeod Cormack box width = image width = 300px caption = Allan M. Cormack at Tufts Universitydeletable image caption|Wednesday, May 07 2008 birth date = February 23, 1924 birth place = Johannesburg, Gauteng death… …   Wikipedia

  • Cormack — biographical name Allan MacLeod 1924 1998 American (South African born) physicist …   New Collegiate Dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”