Herman Carr

Who was Herman Carr?

Herman Y. Carr, who published as H. Y. Carr, was an American physicist and pioneer of magnetic resonance imaging.

Dr. Carr was born in Alliance, Ohio where he was an Alliance High School graduate in January 1943; he later was inducted into their Hall of Fame. He served in the Army as a Sergeant in the 12th Weather Squadron Air Corps during World War II in Italy.

After the War he received a Harvard National Scholarship from Harvard University and graduated summa cum laude in 1948 and also earned his master’s degree in 1949 and a Ph.D. in physics in 1953 from Harvard University. His doctorate thesis, published in 1952, described the first techniques for using gradients in magnetic fields and is the first example of magnetic resonance imaging. He later moved to Rutgers University, where he was professor. Dr. Carr became Professor Emeritus in 1987 and was actively involved in the area of MRI with studies up until his death.

In 2003 the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Paul C. Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield for their work on MRI. There was some controversy when Carr was not awarded the prize jointly with Lauterbur and Mansfield. See Nobel Prize controversies.