James Ambrose, Inventor of the CT Scanner, Passes Away
Jamie Ambrose, MD, a renown neuroradiologist and the chief developer of the CT scanner, passed away March 12. He was 82.
A native of Pretoria, South Africa, Ambrose will be forever linked in the annals of radiologic history for his work with the late Godfrey Hounsfield that resulted in some of the most significant changes in medical imaging. In October 1971, Ambrose demonstrated the first CT scan of a live patient, according to his obituary published in the April 25 edition of The Times (UK). The following April he and Hounsfield presented the first papers on CT imaging to the annual meeting of the British Institute of Radiology. In November 1972, he received a standing ovation for his presentation on CT imaging at the RSNA meeting in Chicago.
"Although neither he nor Hounsfield relished the role of spokesman, it fell to Ambrose to spread the word internationally and he became an ambassador for the new technique," the obituary noted. "He was a towering figure in neurology, and changed it for the better – imaging made life easier for clinicians, and safer and more comfortable for patients."
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