Excerpt:
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the primary technique throughout the body in the routine diagnosis of many disease processes, replacing and sometimes surpassing computed tomography (CT). MRI has particular advantages in that it is non-invasive, using non-ionising radiation, and has a high soft-tissue resolution and discrimination in any imaging plane. It may also provide both morphological and functional information. The resultant MR image is based on multiple tissue parameters any of which can modify tissue contrast. In its development, MRI has incorporated a multidisciplinary team of radiologists, technicians, clinicians and scientists who have made, and are continuing to make, combined efforts in further extending the clinical usefulness and effectiveness of this technique.
The first successful nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment was made in 1946 independently by two scientists in the United States.