On Jul. 3, 1977, Dr. Raymond Damadian achieved the first human nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) image — a cross-section of his postgraduate assistant Larry Minkoff’s chest. The image revealed Minkoff’s heart, lungs, vertebrae, and musculature and became the method known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

In 1969, Damadian from the Downstate Medical Center State University of New York in Brooklyn hypothesized that magnetic resonance could differentiate cancer cells from non-cancerous cells, and he successfully demonstrated his hypothesis with rats.

In 1978, Damadian founded FONAR Corporation (field focused nuclear magnetic resonance). FONAR produced the first commercially available MRI machine in 1980. In 1985, FONAR introduced the first mobile MRI, often used in the ICU where it may be a danger to move the patient, or in an ambulance or emergency disaster setting.