The CT Scanner – The Beatles Greatest Gift to Mankind?
On a rainy evening at the beginning of February, an audience gathered for a fascinating talk by local resident and consultant radiologist, Dr Ben Timmis. His topic was the development of the CT scanner, its impact on medical diagnosis and the ‘involvement’ of the Beatles.
Beatles music was playing as the audience settled down in the Mountford Rooms of Emsworth Community Centre for the first of the 2024 spring talks. Foot and finger tapping to well-known Beatles tunes could be heard before Dr Timmis began his illustrated lecture.
A CT (computerized tomography) scan combines a series of X-ray images taken from different angles around the body and uses computer processing to create cross-sectional images (slices) of the bones, blood vessels and soft tissues inside the body. CT scan images provide more-detailed information than do plain X-rays.
X Rays were first discovered by Röntgen on 1895. Each one produces a 2 dimensional image, for example of the lungs, where the internal organs are superimposed. A CT scanner will show a cross section of all the organs.
In 1971 the first practical CT scanner was developed by British electrical engineer Godrey Hounsfield and his team building on the theoretical work of South African, Allan Cormack. The two men won a Nobel Prize in 1979 for their part in this amazing leap forward in medical analysis. CT is a diagnostic tool that has formed a major part of Dr Timmis’ working life.
The first scanner was installed in Atkinson Morley Hospital and its use around the world has escalated since then. Scanner appeals were launched to get the equipment installed in various hospitals around the country. Today we are 27th in the list after Lithuania. Dr Timmis described in detail how the scanner works and showed various images of real life CT scans pointing out anomalies in the tissues.
How were the Beatles involved?
Well in the late 60s/early 70s the economic and political outlook in the UK was catastrophic but it was also the time of hippies, the summer of love and the Beatles. Total sales of Beatles records in the years 1963-68 album reached 200 million generating great profits for their record company, EMI. Some of those monies were invested in new products including crucially the CT scanner. This was a catalyst enabling the development of the scanner which is, arguably, one of the 20th centuries greatest medical inventions.
