Pioneers of Radiology
Radiology has advanced rapidly in recent years, with no signs of slowing down. From radiology-guided surgery to 3D printing in interventional radiology, these innovations highlight the field’s vital role in modern healthcare.
However, these innovations would not have been possible without the discoveries made by trailblazing visionaries such as Marie Curie and Raymond Damadien. Their efforts have allowed healthcare to flourish and move forward at a remarkable pace. Read on to find out more about these pioneers of radiology and their discoveries.
Henri Becquerel
Shortly after X-Rays were discovered, Henri Becquerel discovered another form of penetrating rays, later known as radioactivity. He found some minerals would glow or fluoresce when exposed to sunlight. By using photographic plates, he was able to capture this fluorescence on film. One of the early minerals Becquerel worked with was Uranium.
His work became the focus and inspiration for Marie and Pierre Curie’s studies, which eventually led to the discovery of two new chemical elements, Polonium and Radium.
Marie Curie
Born in 1867, Marie Curie is widely considered to be the most famous female scientist in history. She is remembered for her contributions to chemistry, winning the Nobel prize twice.
Following on from Henri Becquerel’s work with Uranium, Curie and her husband, Pierre, discovered the chemical elements Polonium and Radium. For this feat, the three scientists would share the Nobel Prize. In later life, she created portable x-ray cars known as ‘Petit Curies’ that helped to monitor bullet wounds, shrapnel and fractures on the battlefield.
(Nobel Prize Outreach, 2026)
Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen
Wilhelm Rontgen is best known for his discovery of x-rays in 1895. Soon after his discovery, x-rays rose in popularity and, for a period, ‘bone portraits’ were all the rage in Victorian society. In 1896, John Francis Hall-Edwards was the first to use an x-ray as a diagnostic tool, when he used it to discover the location of a needle in his colleague’s hand.
X-rays went on to become a staple of medicine, helping with quicker, more precise diagnosis and saving countless lives in the process.
X-rays are still used today, the most common types being CT, DEXA, Mammography and Fluoroscopy.
(Martins, 2024)
Karl Theo Dussik
Karl Dussik was the first person to present ultrasound as a diagnostic tool. British ultrasound pioneer, Douglas Gordon, named Karl Dussik the ‘father of ultrasonic diagnosis’ in his 1964 book Ultrasound as a Diagnostic and Surgical Tool. The studies conducted by Dussik inspired future generations of young researchers who developed and refined this imaging modality, making it one of the most used tools in musculoskeletal imaging today.
(Obstetric Ultrasound History Web, 2026)
Godfrey Hounsfield
Godfrey Hounsfield is remembered fondly for his part in developing computed tomography, an idea that came to him when looking at a picnic basket and noticing that by taking pictures of all parts of a box, you can see what’s inside. Hounsfield’s efforts won him the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for helping to develop the diagnostic imagining technique computed tomography (CT) in 1979.
(Hounsfield, 1979)
Florence Stoney
Florence Stoney was the first female radiologist in the UK. After she was rejected from the UK War Office, Stoney prepared a voluntary women’s unit, where she headed up the surgical unit. Her unit provided vital radiographic services that helped improve the treatment of wounded soldiers during the First World War.
Stoney was a keen suffragette and proudly fought for women’s rights both in medicine and wider society.
(British Institute of Radiology, 2026)
John Mallard
John Mallard is widely remembered for his work creating the first clinically useful MRI full-body scanner.
In 1964, he suggested that that tumours and normal tissues have different magnetic resonance signals, which was the foundation for his focus on NMR, eventually leading to him to push for funding to build the MRI scanner. Mallard’s team tested the MRI full-body machine on themselves before scanning their first human patient in 1980.
(Milne, 2021)
Sir Peter Mansfield
Sir Peter Mansfield began researching NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) in 1962. In the early 70s, he proposed the idea that NMR could form the basis of a medical imaging technique. This technique was later named Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
Later, he developed MRI apparatus which produced the first MRI images of a live human finger in 1974, and a live human torso (his own) in 1978. He went on to initiate and develop the technique of Echo-Planar imaging (EPI) in the late 1970s, which allowed extremely fast imaging of dynamic processes such as a beating heart.
In 2003, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries concerning Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
(Nobel Prize, 2026)
Raymond Damadien
Damadien first had the idea for Magnetic Resonance Imaging whilst using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to scan salt-loving bacteria called halophiles. The results of his experiments were so promising that Damadien realised that the technique could be used to diagnose disease in humans, such as cancer.
Damadien imagined that the test tube he was using as a tool to identify an object’s chemical makeup could be expanded to a whole-body scanning machine to see the inside the of the human body. Damadien created a hypothetical magnetic resonance cancer-detecting machine in 1972.
In 1978, Damadien started to sell his MRI scanners commercially.
(Murphy, 2022)
Radiology is a constantly evolving industry, with healthcare introducing new techniques and innovations all the time. Pioneers such as Hounsfield, Dussik, and Stoney have played an important role in the advancement of radiology and will continue to leave a lasting legacy for future visionaries.
British Institute of Radiology, 2026. History of Radiology. [Online]
Available at: https://www.bir.org.uk/useful-information/history-of-radiology/1930s/1930s-radiology.aspx
[Accessed 16th July 2026].
Hounsfield, G. N., 1979. Nobel Prize. [Online]
Available at: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1979/hounsfield/biographical/
[Accessed 16th July 2026].
Martins, K., 2024. Discovery of X-Rays. [Online]
Available at: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2497/discovery-of-x-rays/
[Accessed 16th July 2026].
Milne, J., 2021. Remembering MRI Pioneer, John Mallard. [Online]
Available at: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/stories/remembering-john-mallard/index.html
[Accessed 16th July 2026].
Murphy, H., 2022. ‘Father of MRI’ dies at 86. [Online]
Available at: https://radiologybusiness.com/topics/medical-imaging/magnetic-resonance-imaging-mri/father-mri-dies-86
[Accessed 17th July 2026].
Nobel Prize Outreach, 2026. Marie Curie – Biographical. [Online]
Available at: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/biographical/?form=MG0AV3
[Accessed 16th July 2026].
Nobel Prize, 2026. Mansfield Biography. [Online]
Available at: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2003/mansfield/facts/
[Accessed 16th July 2026].
Obstetric Ultrasound History Web, 2026. Dussik Bio. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ob-ultrasound.net/dussikbio.html
[Accessed 16th July 2026].
This article provides general information only and is not medical advice. If you have concerns about your health, please speak to a healthcare professional.
