Monday, April 2, 2007

Dr. Raymond Damadian; A Great yet Unknown Inventor

With graduation approaching, the search for a candidate to be awarded with an honorary degree from USC is underway. My Candidate is Dr. Damadian. In picking a nominee for this essay I found it difficult to decide exactly to what degree an individual must embody the qualities that form the foundation of an honorary degree. My problems were soon over when I read about the achievements of Raymond Vahan Damadian, the inventor of the MRI machine. Born in 1936 in Melville New York, Dr. Damadian attended the University of Wisconsin and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Dr. Damadian faced great adversity in his life, while at the same time always advocating that people should strive to help individuals. Dr. Damadian should be awarded an honorary doctoral degree in science due to his outstanding achievements in science, chiefly in creating the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine which is used worldwide to detect certain cancers in the human body. Dr. Damadian contribution to society cannot be overstated; however, he has faced much controversy in his life.
The most obvious issue is the fact that although Dr. Damadian invented the MRI machine, he does not have a patent on the production of MRI machines, instead, large overseas companies produce MRI machines while paying no royalties to the original inventor, whose prototype still remains on permanent display in the Smithsonian Institution’s Hall of Medical Sciences. The injustice Dr. Damadian faced was the result of a belligerent and dishonest interpretation of the relevant facts by the presiding judge in the 1982 trial disputing the patent rights of the MRI machine. Despite the fact that a grand jury found Dr. Damadian deserving of the patent, the trial judge overturned the decision of the jury six weeks later and denied Dr. Damadian his rightful patent. Another equally insulting injustice Dr. Damadian had to face was the denial of the Nobel Prize. The simple fact is that the MRI machine has helped countless people live longer and healthier lives, yet the inventor of the MRI has been this award ever since its invention in 1977, and to add insult to injury, the 2003 recipients of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield, were awarded the Nobel “for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging.” The blatant denial of the Nobel to Dr. Damadian is preposterous, but to award the Nobel for same machine to two people did not invent it is unforgivable and casts a long and disgraceful shadow on the entire Nobel Foundation. It is partly for this reason that USC should without recitation award Dr. Damadian an honorary doctoral degree in science.
The MRI machine is without a doubt one of the most important breakthroughs in medical science and its applications have grown far and wide, helping physicians in order fields diagnose and treat myriad diseases. Additionally, throughout all the insults and hardships Dr. Damadian has had to face he has maintained his composure and dignity, upholding the virtues that USC hold dear, he has been faithful to his work, and was courageous and ambitions to attempt to create the MRI machine, which at the time was said to be impossible to make. Dr. Damadian’s contribution to society is without a doubt far beyond what most of us can hope to achieve, and it would be to USC’s benefit to have his name written in our halls. Hopefully, one day Dr. Damadian’s achievements will be properly recognized, however, if they are not in our lifetime, at least USC could be have the honor of recognizing it before most others. Dr. Damadian would encourage all graduates to persue theirs goals without resitation and to ignore their critics.

No comments: