Edward Raymond Andrew (27 June 1921 – 27 May 2001) was a 20th-century British scientist who was a pioneer of

nuclear magnetic resonance Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are disturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field (in the near field) and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a ...

. He was a primary figure in the development and creation of the world's first

MRI scanner Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique mostly used in radiology and nuclear medicine in order to investigate the anatomy and physiology of the body, and to detect pathologies including tumors, inflammation, neurological ...

Life

He was born in

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Lincoln, east of Nottingham and north-east of Peterborough. The town had a population of 45,339 at ...

, on 27 June 1921 the only child of English parents of Scots descent. He was educated at

Wellingborough School Wellingborough School is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in the market town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. It was established in 1595 and is one of List of the oldest schools in the United Kin ...

where he was head boy. He then won a place at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

on a Natural Science Tripos from 1939 to 1942 under C. P. Snow,

Lawrence Bragg Sir William Lawrence Bragg (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his father William Henry Bragg "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by m ...

, Norman Feather, and

David Shoenberg David Shoenberg (4 January 1911 – 10 March 2004) was a British physicist who worked in condensed matter physics. Shoenberg is known for having developed experimental and theoretical principles to study the De Haas–Van Alphen effect to charact ...

.Independent (newspaper) obituary 26 July 2001 From 1942 to 1945, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was a Scientific Officer at the Air Defence Research and Development Establishment in Malvern studying the effects of gun flashes on

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

. In 1945 he returned to Cambridge as a research student at Pembroke College and the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

. Here he worked with David Shoenberg on

superconductors Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases ...

, gaining a doctorate (PhD) in 1948. He then went to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

for a year to work on

with Ed Purcell and Bersohn, also working on the Pake doublet. He returned to Britain in 1949 to work with Jack Allen FRS at the Cavendish. Colleagues on the NMR project included Bob Eades,

Dan Hyndman Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

, and Alwyn Rushworth. His students here included Waldo Hinshaw. In March 1952, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. In 1954, he became a professor of physics at the University of North Wales in Bangor. Here he founded the British Radio-Frequency Spectroscopy Group (BRSG). In 1964, he moved to a chair at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

in place of Prof L. F. Bates. His work here included the development of the

from 1975 to 1977. In 1978, their success led to the development of the whole-body MRI scanner. After 19 years in Nottingham, he moved to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in Gainesville as a Graduate Professor of Radiology, Physics, and Nuclear Engineering. In 1984, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

and won their Wellcome Medal in the same year. He died on 27 May 2001, aged 79.

Family

He was married twice: firstly to Mary with whom he had two daughters (Patricia and Charmian); and secondly in 1972 to Eunice.

Publications

*''Magnetic Resonance in Medicine'' (1984)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrew, Edward Raymond 1921 births 2001 deaths People from Boston, Lincolnshire Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Nottingham British physicists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh History of medical imaging