Nobel Prize-winning physicist Sir Peter Mansfield, who invented the MRI scanner in Nottingham, has died at the age of 83.
Sir Peter was born in London in 1933. After serving in the army as a teenager for two years, he returned to study A Levels, and was accepted by Queen Mary College, University of London, to study Physics.
Sir Peter focused on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) after gaining his doctorate. He married his wife, Jean Margaret Kibble, in September 1962, and in 1964 he became a lecturer at University of Nottingham in the Department of Physics.
Sir Peter’s career led to the creation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, the non-evasive technology, which uses a magnetic field and radio waves to form detailed images of the body, internal organs and tissue are now used to help an estimated 60 million people a year and likely to have saved many lives as a result
In 1993 he was knighted for his service to physics, due to the huge impact of the MRI, Sir Peter was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2003.
In 2003, Nottingham City Council made Sir Peter an Honorary Freeman of the City. The honour is considered the highest the council can give.
He was also honoured in 2015 after the council and NET named a tram after him. He celebrated the honour with his wife by testing out the tram’s driver’s seat at an unveiling ceremony in October 2015.
City Council Leader, Councillor Jon Collins, said: “We are immensely proud of the life-changing and Nobel Prize winning contribution that Sir Peter Mansfield made to medical science and I’m very sorry to hear he has passed away. Nottingham showed its pride and respect for Sir Peter by making him an Honorary Freeman of the City which not only recognised his contribution to the world but also the inspiration he has provided to Nottingham people.”