Inaugural visit for Distinguished Honorary Professor whose ideas shaped contemporary MRI

Last week, the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) hosted Professor Robert Turner – who played a key role in the invention of actively shielded gradient coils used widely in all magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

This was Professor Turner’s inaugural visit since becoming a Distinguished Honorary Professor at Cardiff University. He began by delivering a fascinating lecture on ‘The Myelin Bootstrap’ - a theory which explores neuropsychological models of normal and abnormal cognitive development. After a tour of CUBRIC’s facilities, he then met with key academic staff and students to discuss various collaborative opportunities.

Professor Turner, who is also attributed with the development of diffusion weighted imaging of human brain, and in the discovery of functional MRI by measurement of the effects of blood oxygenation changes, said: “The organisation of high quality brain research equipment in this unprecedently large laboratory really is a wonder to behold. It is a true world centre for brain imaging.”

CUBRIC Director, Professor Derek Jones said: “Prof Robert Turner (or ‘Bob’ as we know him) is an extremely well-known and respected personality in the MRI community. We’re really looking forward to working more closely with Bob on a number of topics, that capitalise on CUBRIC’s unique combination of state-of-the-art neuroimaging equipment, expertise and industrial support”.

Professor Turner is currently Emeritus Director at the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, and Honorary Professor in the School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nottingham. In 2020 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Watch an interview with Professor Derek Jones and Professor Turner from 2017 where you can learn more about Robert, his discoveries and the future of MRI.