Mansfield, Peter

Sir Peter Mansfield, FRS, rojen 9. oktobra 1933, je zaslužni profesor fizike na Univerzi v Nottinghamu. L. 2003 je s P. Lauterburom prejel Nobelovo nagrado za fiziologijo in medicino za odkritja na področju magnetnoresonančnega slikanja, ki so privedla do uporabe te tehnike v medicini. Prispevek prof. Mansfielda je predvsem v tem, da je na osnovi matematične analize signalov uvedel metodo aktivnega magnetnega zasenčenja gradientov polja in s tem omogočil hitro preklapljanje gradientov. To je pomembno skrajšalo čas meritve magnetnoresonančnega slikanja v medicini. Prof. Peter Mansfield je uvedel tudi metodo poznano kot »echo-planar imaging«, s čimer je za nekaj velikostnih razredov povečal hitrost magnetnoresonančnega slikanja in omogočil njegovo uporabo pri rutinskih medicinskih pregledih.
Danes je magnetnoresonančno slikanje ena najpomembnejših diagnostičnih tehnik v medicini, kjer je predvsem za preiskave mehkih tkiv nadomestila rentgensko slikanje, ki pa ostaja nepogrešljivo pri trdih tkivih. Magnetnoresonančno slikanje je v mnogih vidikih boljše od drugih slikovnih metod v medicini in je izboljšalo diagnostiko vrste obolenj. Pomembno je tudi, da je nadomestilo kar nekaj doslej uporabljanih invazivnih metod in s tem zmanjšalo tveganja za komplikacije in težave pacientov. Po ocenah letno opravijo več kot 60 milijonov tovrstnih preiskav.
Prof. Peter Mansfield je bil rojen v Londonu. Pri 15 letih je zaradi pomanjkanja sredstev opustil šolanje in postal tiskar. Srednjo šolo je končal kot izredni študent ob nočnem študiju. Fiziko je študiral na Queen Mary College v Londonu in doktoriral 1962. L. 1964 se je pridružil Oddelku za fiziko Univerze v Nottinghamu in postal profesor 1979. L. 1983 je prejel zlato medaljo Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 1992 pa nagrado ISMAR. L. 1987 je postal član Royal Society, 1993 pa je prejel plemiški naziv Sir za prispevke k razvoju britanske industrije, ki temeljijo na njegovih patentih o hitrem preklapljanju gradientov magnetnega polja v magnetnoresonančnih napravah. Ti patenti so omogočili podjetju Oxford Instruments vodilno vlogo na svetu pri izdelavi magnetnih sistemov za magnetnoresonančna slikanja. Prof. Mansfield je 1993 prejel tudi Barkleyevo medaljo britanske revije Journal of Radiology, 1995 zlato medaljo Journal of Clinical MRI ter še vrsto drugih medalj in odlikovanj. Je častni doktor štirih uglednih univerz.
Z ljubljansko skupino za magnetno resonanco sodeluje prof. Peter Mansfield že od 1973, ko je objavil prvi prispevek s področja magnetnoresonančnega slikanja z naslovom NMR difrakcija v trdnih snoveh. V tem delu je pokazal, da lahko v prisotnosti gradientov magnetnega polja ob uporabi multipulznih radiofrekvenčnih sekvenc dobimo slike trdne snovi, ki so komplementarne rentgenskim slikam, saj pokažejo predvsem slike mehkih tkiv, ki jih na rentgenskih slikah ne vidimo. L. 1990 je o tem predaval na letni šoli Ampère v Portorožu, ki jo je organiziral akademik Robert Blinc. Od tedaj je večkrat obiskal Ljubljano, naši raziskovalci pa so bili vedno dobrodošli v njegovem laboratoriju v Nottinghamu. Pomembna je tudi njegova pomoč in spodbuda pri vrsti raziskav s podorčja magnetnoresonančnega slikanja v nizkih magnetnih poljih.
Skupščina SAZU je profesorja Petra Mansfielda 1. junija 2007 izvolila za dopisnega člana.

(april 2012)

Peter Mansfield
Sir Peter Manfield, FRS, born 9 October 1933, is Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Nottingham. In 2003 he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine together with P. Lauterbur for his discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which has led to the application of MRI in medicine. The main contribution of Prof. Mansfield is his reasearch based on the mathematical analysis of signals in which he introduced the method of active magnetic screening of field gradients, which enables rapid switching of gradients. This method radically shortened the time necessary for MRI in medicine. Prof. Mansfield also introduced the method of so-called »echo-planar imaging«, which enhanced the speed of MRI by several orders of magnitude and opened way for its use in rutine medical examinations.
MRI is currnetly one of the most important diagnostic techniques in medicine, especially in examinations of soft tissues, where it replaced the x-ray diagnostics, the latter however being irreplaceable for hard tissues. MRI is in many respects superior to other imaging methods in medicine and has improved the diagnostics of a number of diseases. It is also important that MRI replaced several formerly used invasive methods, thus reducing the risk of complications and the suffering of patients. It is estimated that there are more than 60 million MRI examinations performed yearly in the world.
Professor Peter Mansfield was born in London. At the age of 15 he quit school for lack of funding and became a printer. He took night school to complete his bachelors degree. He studied physics at the Queen Mary College in London and earned his Ph.D. in Physics in 1962. In 1964 he joined the Physics Department of the University of Nottingham and became professor in 1979. In 1983 he received the Gold Medal of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, and in 1992 the ISMAR prize. In 1987 he became a member of the Royal Society, and was knighted in 1993 for his contribution to the advancement of British industry through his patents in MRI. With these patents the company Oxford Instruments attained a leading role in the world in the production of magnetic systems for MRI. Prof. Mansfield received in 1993 the Barkley Medal from the Journal of Radiology, and in 1995 the Gold Medal of the Journal of Clinical MRI. He is also recipient of numerous other medals and honorary degrees, among them 4 Honorary Doctorates from distinguished universities.
Professor Peter Mansfield has been collaborating with the Ljubljana group for magnetic resonance since 1973, when he published his first contribution to the field of MRI entitled NMR Diffraction in Solids. In this work he demonstrated that in the presence of magnetic field gradients it is possible, by applying multi-pulse radiofrequency sequences, to obtain an image of solid materials. This is complementary to x-ray images, because MRI is capable of displaying an image of soft tissues not visible by x-rays. In 1990 he lectured on this subject at the Ampère Summer School in Portorož organized by Academician Robert Blinc. Since then he visited Ljubljana on several occasions and Slovenian researchers were always welcome in his laboratory in Nottingham. His help and encouragement have been of great importance for a number of MRI investigations in low magnetic fields.
The Assembly of SASA elected Professor Peter Mansfield on 01 June 2007 a foreign member of SASA.

(April 2012)