 Sir Frank Whittle invented the jet engine |
A Wiltshire man who pioneered what is considered one of the greatest breakthroughs in modern medical diagnosis is to be honoured. Professor Ian Young, from Marlborough, who helped develop Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology, is to receive the Sir Frank Whittle Medal.
He will be presented with the award by the Royal Academy of Engineering at a ceremony on Thursday.
MRI uses special imaging techniques to take pictures of inside the body.
 |  It's a considerable honour to be recognised by one's peers for doing something useful  |
Professor Young, 72, was one of two authors who published the first MRI-generated image of a head in 1978.
He also built the world's first MRI machine to use a super-conducting magnet for imaging, an approach now in almost universal use.
"It's a considerable honour to be recognised by one's peers for doing something useful," he told BBC News Online.
In 2003, there were about 10,000 MRI units worldwide, performing about 75 million MRI scans each year.
Presented in honour of the jet engine pioneer, Sir Frank Whittle, the medal is awarded to a UK engineer for "outstanding and sustained achievement which has contributed to the well-being of the nation".
The first winner, in 2001, was the creator of the world wide web, Professor Tim Berners-Lee.
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