Mansfield, Peter (1933- )

English physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2003 for his role in the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He shared the award with US chemist Paul C Lauterbur.

Mansfield built on the work carried out by Lauterbur in the development of MRI. Mansfield was able to use gradients in the primary magnetic field to determine differences in the resonance more accurately and therefore produce more precise images. Mansfield also showed how the speed of imaging could be significantly increased using very fast variations in magnetic gradients, a procedure that became known as echo-planar scanning. This step was essential in transforming the method into a practical technique. MRI is now used routinely as a clinical tool.

Mansfield was born in Nottingham, England. He joined the department of physics at the University of Nottingham as a lecturer in 1964, becoming senior lecturer there in 1968. From 1972 to 1973 Mansfield was senior visitor to the Max Planck Institut für Medizinische Forschung in Heidelberg, Germany. He was professor at the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham from 1979. Mansfield was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, London, in 1987 and received a knighthood in 1993.