7 Heinrich Rohrer and Gerd Binnig 7

the surface topography. This surface-force scan can be
converted into a three-dimensional surface image.
Binnig’s involvement in the invention of the STM
stimulated an interest in the creative process. In 1989 he
published the book Aus dem Nichts (“Out of Nothing”),
which posited that creativity grows from disorder. Binnig
went on to articulate what he called “fractal Darwinism,”
a theory that new ideas or devices evolve through complex
interactions on multiple scales, from the social group to
the individual and from broad concepts to specific
problems.

pauL Lauterbur and
peter MansfIeLd
respectively, (b. May 6, 1929, Sidney, Ohio, U.S.—d. March 27, 2007,
Urbana, Ill.); (b. Oct. 9, 1933, London, Eng.)

T

he 2003 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was
awarded to two pioneers of magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI), a computerized scanning technology that
produces images of internal body structures, especially
those comprising soft tissues. The recipients were chemist
Paul Lauterbur of the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign and physicist Sir Peter Mansfield of the
University of Nottingham, Eng.
“A great advantage with MRI is that it is harmless
according to all present knowledge,” stated the Nobel
Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, which
awarded the prize. Unlike X-ray and computed tomography
(CT) examinations, MRI avoided the use of potentially
harmful ionizing radiation; rather, it produced its images
with magnetic fields and radio waves. MRI scans spared
patients not only many X-ray examinations but also surgical
procedures and invasive tests formerly needed to diagnose