The Long Road to Stockholm: The Story of Magnetic Resonance Imaging - An Autobiography - Hardcover

A remarkable book. (Nick Smith, Engineering & Technology magazine)

An interesting account by one of the key individuals in the development of MRI. (Maria Bjorkman, Journal of BJHS)

This is a wonderful book which covers the inside story about how the field of MRI evolved from its early days to now. The book covers not only the story behind many of the technical developments of MRI but also how a boy brought up in South London during the Second World War, and who left grade school early, went on to become one of the worlds most accomplished scientists. (Alex MacKay, University of British Columbia)

In this autobiography, Sir Peter Mansfield describes his life from war time childhood that initially sparked his interest in physics to his work in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that eventually led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 2003.

Peter Mansfield grew up in London, but was evacuated to Devon during the blitz and following the V1 and V2 attacks on London. At the end of hostilities, he worked briefly in the printing industry before deciding to pursue his real interests in science by joining the Rocket Propulsion Department at Westcott near Aylesbury. Following a period of National Service and his studies at Queen Mary College, University of London, he married and moved to the USA for two years, returning in 1964 as a Lecturer in Physics at the University of Nottingham.

In 1972 he spent a sabbatical period in Heidelberg, and during this period corresponded with his student, Peter Grannell, in Nottingham on the novel idea of magnetic resonance imaging. This led to his first paper on MRI which was presented at the first Specialised Colloque Ampère in 1973. During this period, he demonstrated how the MRI radio signals can be analysed and turned into images of the body. In 2003 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Sir Peter and Paul Lauterbur for their crucial achievements in the development of MRI.