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Armenian Scientist Robbed
Of Nobel Prize in Medicine
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
Dr. Raymond Damadian, the inventor of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
technology was robbed of a well-deserved Nobel Prize in Medicine last week
when the Nobel Committee awarded the Prize to two other scientists who had
merely made technological improvements based on his discovery. Dr.
Damadian's machine has saved millions of lives worldwide because of its
ability to distinguish between cancerous and normal tissue through magnetic
resonance.
The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and scores of
other newspapers around the world published articles pointing out the Nobel
Committee's controversial decision. Eminent scientists, distinguished
physicians and leading medical textbooks have attributed to Dr. Damadian the
discovery of the MRI. In 1997, the High Court on U.S. Patents and the U.S.
Supreme Court enforced Damadian's 1972 patent.
Last week, the Washington Post quoted Eugene Feigelson, Dean of the College
of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, as saying: "We are perplexed,
disappointed and angry about the incomprehensible exclusion" of Damadian
from the Nobel Prize. "MRI's entire development rests on the shoulders of
Damadian's discovery."
Damadian was so incensed by his exclusion that he took the unprecedented
step of spending close to $300,000 last week to place full-page ads in
several major newspapers, including the New York Times, the Washington Post,
and the Los Angeles Times. The ads urged everyone to write to Nobel
Committee members and ask them to correct their egregious error.
The Nobel Committee should add Dr. Damadian's name to the two other awardees
of the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Letters should be sent to: The Nobel
Committee for Medicine, Nobel Forum, box 270 SE-171, 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
E-mail address: secr@mednobel.ki.se.
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