Godfrey Hounsfield

Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield (28 August 1919 - 12 August 2004) was an English electrical engineer who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Allan McLeod Cormack for his part in developing the diagnostic technique of computerized axial tomography (CAT).

Biography

Hounsfield was born on a farm in Nottinghamshire, England. He attended the Magnus Grammar School (now Magnus Church of England School) in Newark-on-Trent. In World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force as a volunteer reservist where he learned the basics of electronics and radar. After the war, he attended Faraday House Electrical Engineering College in London. He never attended any university and was largely self-taught.

Related Topics:
Nottinghamshire - Newark-on-Trent - World War II - Royal Air Force - Electronics - Radar - University

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In 1951, Hounsfield began work at EMI Ltd. where he researched guided weapon systems and radar. There, he became interested in computers and in 1958, he helped design the first all-transistor computer made in Great Britain, the EMIDEC 1100. Shortly afterwards, he began work on the CAT scanner at EMI. He continued to improve CAT scanning, introducing a whole-body scanner in 1975, and was senior researcher (and after his retirement in 1984, consultant) to the laboratories.

Related Topics:
1951 - Computer - 1958 - 1984

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Hounsfield received numerous awards in addition to the Nobel Prize. He was appointed Commander of the British Empire in 1976 and knighted in 1981. In 1975, he was elected to the Royal Society.

Related Topics:
Commander of the British Empire - 1976 - Knight - 1981 - Royal Society

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He was a bachelor his whole life.

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