Venerable MRI scanner has new role at CERN
01 August 2012
One of the original MRI scanners, which helped pioneer research into neuroscience and physiology at The University of Nottingham, is heading for a new life at CERN.
The 3T MR Scanner, which opened windows onto the working of the brain and body, was installed 21 years ago in the Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre. It was at the heart of the centre’s research for more than a decade and was only retired a few months before its 20th year. Around it Sir Peter Mansfield and his team constructed the world’s fastest MRI system — a record it held for many years.
Having been superseded by the super fast 7T MR scanner it is bound for a new life with physicists from the University of York who are working on a particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The retired scanner will help them investigate the effects of magnetic fields on the radio-active decay of short lived particles.