Robert Ledley

Who was Robert Ledley?

Robert Steven Ledley, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics and Professor of Radiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, pioneered the use of electronic digital computers in biology and medicine. In 1959, he wrote two influential articles in Science: "Reasoning Foundations of Medical Diagnosis" and "Digital Electronic Computers in Biomedical Science". Both articles encouraged biomedical researchers and physicians to adopt computer technology. In 1960 he established the National Biomedical Research Foundation, a non-profit research organization dedicated to promoting the use of computers and electronic equipment in biomedical research. At the NBRF Ledley pursued several major projects: the early 1960s development of the Film Input to Digital Automatic Computer, which automated the analysis of chromosomes; the invention of the Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial whole-body CT scanner in the mid-1970s; managing the Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure; and the establishment of the Protein Information Resource in 1984. Ledley also served as editor of several major peer-reviewed biomedical journals.