The first clinical CT scan of a human brain was performed in 1971.
British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield developed the scanner at EMI, while neurologist James Ambrose helped introduce it into clinical practice. The first patient scan took place at Atkinson Morley’s Hospital in London on October 1, 1971. The machine produced cross-sectional images of the brain and revealed a cystic lesion.
Computed tomography combined X-rays with computer processing to display internal structures in slices. Before CT, doctors often had to infer brain abnormalities from symptoms, skull X-rays, or invasive tests. CT therefore represented a major leap in diagnosing tumors, bleeding, strokes, and other conditions.
The first scanner was designed specifically for the head and produced relatively slow, low-resolution images by modern standards. Hounsfield and Allan Cormack later shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work underlying computed tomography.