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{{short description|South African American physicist (1924–1998)}}
{{Short description|South African-American physicist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Allan MacLeod Cormack
| name = Allan MacLeod Cormack
| image = File:34. Tagung 1984 Mediziner; Verabschiedung H.-H. Kunckel, Allen Cormack - W134Nr.123006 - Willy Pragher (cropped).jpg
|image =
|image_size =
| image_size =
|caption =
| caption =
|birth_date = February 23, 1924
| birth_date = February 23, 1924
|birth_place = [[Johannesburg]], [[South Africa]]
| birth_place = [[Johannesburg]], [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|5|7|1924|2|23}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|5|7|1924|2|23}}
|death_place = [[Winchester, Massachusetts|Winchester]], [[Massachusetts]], [[United States]]
| death_place = [[Winchester, Massachusetts|Winchester]], [[Massachusetts]], [[United States]]
|residence =
| residence =
|ethnicity =
| ethnicity =
|field = [[Physicist]]
| field = [[Physics]]
|work_institutions =
| work_institutions =
|alma_mater = [[University of Cape Town]]<br>[[St John’s College, Cambridge]]
| alma_mater = [[Rondebosch Boys' High School]]<br> [[University of Cape Town]]<br>[[St John's College, Cambridge]]
|doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_advisor =
|doctoral_students =
| doctoral_students =
|known_for = [[Computed tomography]]
| known_for = [[Computed tomography]]
|author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences =
| influences =
|influenced =
| influenced =
|prizes = {{no wrap|[[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] {{small|(1979)}}<br>[[National Medal of Science]] {{small|(1990)}}}}
| prizes = {{no wrap|[[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] {{small|(1979)}}<br>[[National Medal of Science]] {{small|(1990)}}}}
|footnotes =
| footnotes =
|signature =
| signature =
}}
}}
'''Allan MacLeod Cormack''' (February 23, 1924 – May 7, 1998) was a [[South African American]] [[physicist]] who won the 1979 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (along with [[Godfrey Hounsfield]]) for his work on [[X-ray]] [[computed tomography]] (CT).<ref>{{cite web|title=1979: Allan MacLeod Cormack (1924-1998)|url=https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/1979-allan-macleod-cormack-1924-1998|work=[[St John's College, Cambridge]]}}</ref>
'''Allan MacLeod Cormack''' (February 23, 1924 – May 7, 1998) was a [[South African American]] [[physicist]] who won the 1979 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (along with [[Godfrey Hounsfield]]) for his work on [[X-ray]] [[computed tomography]] (CT), a significant and unusual achievement since Cormack did not hold a doctoral degree in any scientific field.<ref>{{cite web|title=1979: Allan MacLeod Cormack (1924–1998)|url=https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/1979-allan-macleod-cormack-1924-1998|work=[[St John's College, Cambridge]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oransky|first=Ivan|date=September 2004|title=Sir Godfrey N Hounsfield|journal=The Lancet|language=en|volume=364|issue=9439|pages=1032|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17049-9|pmid=15455486|s2cid=9630780 |doi-access=free}}</ref>


==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Cormack was born in [[Johannesburg]], South Africa. He attended [[Rondebosch Boys' High School]] in [[Cape Town]], where he was active in the debating and tennis teams.<ref>{{Nobelprize|name=Allan M. Cormack|accessdate=2020-10-11}}</ref> He received his B.Sc. in [[physics]] in 1944 from the [[University of Cape Town]] and his M.Sc. in [[crystallography]] in 1945 from the same institution. He was a doctoral student at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] from 1947–49, and while at Cambridge he met his future wife, Barbara Seavey, an American physics student.
Cormack was born on February 23, 1924, in [[Johannesburg]], South Africa. He attended [[Rondebosch Boys' High School]] in [[Cape Town]], where he was active in the debating and tennis teams.<ref>{{Nobelprize|name=Allan M. Cormack|accessdate=October 11, 2020}}</ref> He received his B.Sc. in [[physics]] in 1944 from the [[University of Cape Town]] and his M.Sc. in [[crystallography]] in 1945 from the same institution. He was a doctoral student at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] from 1947 to 1949, and while at Cambridge he met his future wife, Barbara Seavey, an American physics student.{{cn|date=February 2024}}


==Career==
==Career==
After marrying Barbara , he returned to the University of Cape Town in early 1950 to lecture. Following a sabbatical at [[Harvard]] in 1956-57, the couple agreed to move to the United States, and Cormack became a professor at [[Tufts University]] in the fall of 1957. Cormack became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States in 1966. Although he was mainly working on [[particle physics]], Cormack's side interest in x-ray technology led him to develop the theoretical underpinnings of CT scanning. This work was initiated at the University of Cape Town and [[Groote Schuur Hospital]] in early 1956 and continued briefly in mid-1957 after returning from his sabbatical. His results were subsequently published in two papers in the Journal of Applied Physics in 1963 and 1964. These papers generated little interest until [[Godfrey Hounsfield|Hounsfield]] and colleagues built the first CT scanner in 1971, taking Cormack's theoretical calculations into a real application. For their independent efforts, Cormack and Hounsfield shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It is notable that the two built a very similar type of device without collaboration in different parts of the world [3]. He was member of the [[International Academy of Science]]. In 1990, he was awarded the [[National Medal of Science]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.cfm?recip_id=89|title=The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details {{!}} NSF - National Science Foundation|website=www.nsf.gov|language=en|access-date=2017-11-14}}</ref>
After marrying Barbara, he returned to the University of Cape Town in early 1950 to lecture. Following a sabbatical at [[Harvard]] in 1956–57, the couple agreed to move to the United States, and Cormack became a professor at [[Tufts University]] in the fall of 1957. Cormack became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States in 1966. Although he was mainly working on [[particle physics]], Cormack's side interest in x-ray technology led him to develop the theoretical underpinnings of CT scanning. This work was initiated at the University of Cape Town and [[Groote Schuur Hospital]] in early 1956 and continued briefly in mid-1957 after returning from his sabbatical. His results were subsequently published in two papers in the Journal of Applied Physics in 1963 and 1964. These papers generated little interest until [[Godfrey Hounsfield|Hounsfield]] and colleagues built the first CT scanner in 1971, taking Cormack's theoretical calculations into a real application. For their independent efforts, Cormack and Hounsfield shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It is notable that the two built a very similar type of device without collaboration in different parts of the world [3]. He was member of the International Academy of Science, Munich. In 1990, he was awarded the [[National Medal of Science]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.cfm?recip_id=89|title=The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details {{!}} NSF – National Science Foundation|website=www.nsf.gov|language=en|access-date=November 14, 2017}}</ref>


==Death==
==Death==
Cormack died of cancer in Winchester, Massachusetts at age 74. He was posthumously awarded the [[Order of Mapungubwe]] on the 10 December 2002 for outstanding achievements as a scientist and for co-inventing the CT scanner.
Cormack died of cancer in [[Winchester, Massachusetts]], at age 74. He was posthumously awarded the [[Order of Mapungubwe]] on December 10, 2002, for outstanding achievements as a scientist and for co-inventing the CT scanner.{{cn|date=February 2024}}


==References==
==References==
* Oransky, Ivan (2004). "Sir Godfrey N Hounsfield". The Lancet. 364 (9439): 1032. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17049-9.
===Notes===
<references/>
<references/>


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* {{Nobelprize|name=Allan M. Cormack}}
* {{Nobelprize|name=Allan M. Cormack}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1979 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Order of Mapungubwe|state=collapsed}}
{{Order of Mapungubwe|state=collapsed}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Cormack, Allan Mcleod}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cormack, Allan Macleod}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
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[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:National Medal of Science laureates]]
[[Category:National Medal of Science laureates]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:People from Johannesburg]]
[[Category:Scientists from Johannesburg]]
[[Category:People from Winchester, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Winchester, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:South African emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:South African emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:South African inventors]]
[[Category:South African inventors]]
[[Category:South African Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:South African Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:South African physicists]]
[[Category:20th-century South African physicists]]
[[Category:Tufts University faculty]]
[[Category:Tufts University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Cape Town academics]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Cape Town]]
[[Category:University of Cape Town alumni]]
[[Category:University of Cape Town alumni]]
[[Category:X-ray computed tomography]]
[[Category:X-ray computed tomography]]
[[Category:White South African people]]
[[Category:South African people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:South African people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine]]

Latest revision as of 21:40, 23 February 2024

Allan MacLeod Cormack
BornFebruary 23, 1924
Johannesburg, South Africa
DiedMay 7, 1998(1998-05-07) (aged 74)
Winchester, Massachusetts, United States
Alma materRondebosch Boys' High School
University of Cape Town
St John's College, Cambridge
Known forComputed tomography
AwardsNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1979)
National Medal of Science (1990)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics

Allan MacLeod Cormack (February 23, 1924 – May 7, 1998) was a South African American physicist who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with Godfrey Hounsfield) for his work on X-ray computed tomography (CT), a significant and unusual achievement since Cormack did not hold a doctoral degree in any scientific field.[1][2]

Early life and education

[edit]

Cormack was born on February 23, 1924, in Johannesburg, South Africa. He attended Rondebosch Boys' High School in Cape Town, where he was active in the debating and tennis teams.[3] He received his B.Sc. in physics in 1944 from the University of Cape Town and his M.Sc. in crystallography in 1945 from the same institution. He was a doctoral student at Cambridge University from 1947 to 1949, and while at Cambridge he met his future wife, Barbara Seavey, an American physics student.[citation needed]

Career

[edit]

After marrying Barbara, he returned to the University of Cape Town in early 1950 to lecture. Following a sabbatical at Harvard in 1956–57, the couple agreed to move to the United States, and Cormack became a professor at Tufts University in the fall of 1957. Cormack became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1966. Although he was mainly working on particle physics, Cormack's side interest in x-ray technology led him to develop the theoretical underpinnings of CT scanning. This work was initiated at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital in early 1956 and continued briefly in mid-1957 after returning from his sabbatical. His results were subsequently published in two papers in the Journal of Applied Physics in 1963 and 1964. These papers generated little interest until Hounsfield and colleagues built the first CT scanner in 1971, taking Cormack's theoretical calculations into a real application. For their independent efforts, Cormack and Hounsfield shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It is notable that the two built a very similar type of device without collaboration in different parts of the world [3]. He was member of the International Academy of Science, Munich. In 1990, he was awarded the National Medal of Science.[4]

Death

[edit]

Cormack died of cancer in Winchester, Massachusetts, at age 74. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Mapungubwe on December 10, 2002, for outstanding achievements as a scientist and for co-inventing the CT scanner.[citation needed]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "1979: Allan MacLeod Cormack (1924–1998)". St John's College, Cambridge.
  2. ^ Oransky, Ivan (September 2004). "Sir Godfrey N Hounsfield". The Lancet. 364 (9439): 1032. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17049-9. PMID 15455486. S2CID 9630780.
  3. ^ Allan M. Cormack on Nobelprize.org Edit this at Wikidata, accessed 11 October 2020
  4. ^ "The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details | NSF – National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
[edit]
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