Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provided a major improvement in diagnostic information, compared to that available using X-rays.

In August 1980, Professor John Mallard and his team at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary used a machine like this to obtain the first clinically useful MRI image of a patient. They were one of six scientific teams working to extend the technique of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, already used in laboratories for chemical identification, to produce medical pictures for the diagnosis of disease.