William H. Oldendorf
Encyclopedia
William Henry Oldendorf (March 27, 1925 – December 14, 1992) was an American neurologist, physician, researcher, medical pioneer, founding member of the American Society for Neuroimaging (ASN), and originator of the technique of computed tomography
.
. According to his sister Dorothy, William developed an interest in science and imaging through his fascination with telescopes. While still in high school, he placed one on the front sidewalk of their abode and studied the stars late into the night.
in Schenectady, New York
-- completing premedical studies in just 3 years. He received his medical degree from the Albany Medical College
in Albany, New York
in 1947.
at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, Oldendorf completed a residency in psychiatry
through the New York State Department of Mental Health Residency
Training Program. Then he enlisted for active duty in the United States Navy
as a medical officer and was posted at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island
. Two years later Oldendorf left the Navy to complete a fellowship
in neurology
at the University of Minnesota
Hospitals in Minneapolis, Minnesota
; for this reason, he was subsequently certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
as a diplomate in both specialties.
at the University of California, Los Angeles
and the staff of the nearby UCLA-affiliated West Los Angeles
Veterans Administration
Medical Center. He became an active member of the academic community, where his scientific, clinical, and teaching abilities were admired at the bedside, in seminars, at clinical conferences, in the auditorium, and in his laboratory. He engaged students and colleagues in long discussions about neurologic theory, the scientific process, or results of medical research. By 1959, Oldendorf was an attending neurologist
at the Wadsworth VA-UCLA Medical Center
where his ability to apply techniques from one field to another did not go unnoticed. He was universally characterized as "likable", "friendly", "amusing", "creative", "intense", and "humble".
Oldendorf's interest neuroimaging was precipitated by a dislike for invasive procedures (like pneumoencephalography
and direct carotid puncture
) that he performed as a clinical neurologist. Oldendorf found that these traumatic, tedious tests provided only limited and indirect information about the brain. At UCLA, he started his seminal investigations into the two major lines of research that would define his career: X-ray shadow radiography
and cerebral angiography. The first line was influential in the evolving concept of neuroimaging
; the second yielded fundamental knowledge of brain metabolism
and mechanisms of the blood-brain barrier
.
. In his landmark paper, also published in 1961, he described the basic concept later used by Allan McLeod Cormack
to develop the mathematics behind computerized tomography, though Prof. Cormack was unaware of Oldendorf's work. In October, 1963 Oldendorf finally received a U.S. patent
for a "radiant energy apparatus for investigating selected areas of interior objects obscured by dense material,". This work was recognized by Godfrey Hounsfield
as the only other attempt at tomographic reconstruction
, and, indeed, formed the basis of much of his Nobel prize-winning work. The prototype developed by Dr. Hounsfield, however, did not lead to the development of the first industrial CAT scanning
device. When suggested to a leading X-ray manufacturer of the time, the president of the company retorted,
Faced with this reaction, Oldendorf "turned his attention to other scientific work and heard nothing further about the idea until 1972."
However, his idea was a fundamental discovery which also led to MRI, positron emission tomography
(PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and other imaging techniques. Once these techniques became widely accepted, Dr. Oldendorf, along with William Markley McKinney, MD (1930–2003) were instrumental in promoting the use of Computed Tomography
among neurologists to help decrease the use of superfluous and invasive tests.
and the practice of medicine
. He developed an original method to analyze blood flow in the brain and the kinetics
of blood-brain permeability. The idea of the blood-brain barrier was already entrenched in medical science by this time, but had never been quantified. Oldendorf's work in measuring blood flow with radioactive isotopes was fundamental to the subsequent development of techniques now used in many nuclear medicine laboratories. His methods of assessing blood-brain barrier permeability increased knowledge of the mechanisms whereby drugs
and metabolic substrates enter into the brain. Especially important was his characterization of more than a dozen independent carrier systems, along with their saturation kinetics.
Today, most of what is known of the selective permeability of the blood-brain barrier was either established by Oldendorf in his laboratory, or by others using his ingenious techniques. These results have been essential in developing PET and SPECT imaging; in studying glucose
transport
and brain metabolism; and in characterizing clinically important diseases such as cerebral ischemia
, starvation
, and epilepsy
. Oldendorf's experiments were also was the first to prove that cerebrospinal fluid
functions as a "sink" in relationship to brain metabolism, a concept that is being investigated in relation to the pathophysiology
of presenile dementias such as Alzheimer's disease
.
, William Oldendorf, Jr.
Oldendorf was one of the 30 attendees of the Neurology Computed Tomography Symposium, organized by William Kinkel from September 24 to September 25, 1975, in Buffalo, New York
. He participated in the ad-hoc committee that unanimously voted to form the Society for Computerized Tomography so as to continue its educational activities. Realizing that other imaging modalities may eventually be prominent, the following year Oldendorf pushed to have the name of the society changed to Society for Computerized Tomography and Neuroimaging, and served as its president from 1978 to 1979. This society was to rename itself the American Society for Neuroimaging (ASN) in 1981, also with the prodding of Oldendorf.
Oldendorf was on several editorial boards and was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
. In 1992, he became the first neurologist ever to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences
.
. Oldendorf was also awarded the Albert and Mary Lasker Award for Clinical Research in 1975 along with Prof. Hounsfield for "concepts and experiments which directly anticipated and demonstrated the feasibility of computerized tomography, which has revolutionized the field of neurological diagnosis". He received a Special Leadership Award from the American Academy of Neurology
in 1980 for "contributions to clinical neurology, including computerized tomographic scanning, studies on the blood-brain barrier, and research on cerebral metabolism." In 1981 he received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service
and the Medical Sciences Award from the UCLA Alumni Association
.
Oldendorf was also
with his colleagues Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack
in 1979. This was in concordance with the Nobel committee's tradition of denying the prize to researchers in applied research (who have M.D.
degrees) in favor of researchers in the basic sciences (who have Ph.D.
degrees). Rosalyn Yalow, a Nobel laureate herself, nominated Oldendorf for the prize and was reportedly upset that he did not get it. In the January 1980 issue of the journal Science (vol. 207, page 31), William J. Broad wrote an article titled "The Riddle of the Nobel Debate" in which he posited that politics in Stockholm forced the removal of Dr. Oldendorf's name during the nomination process. It was theorized that giving the prize to another American could sway pending patent litigation in Europe over the rights to the CT Scanner.
He died unexpectedly on December 14, 1992 from the complications of heart disease
. In his eulogy, L. Jolyon West (Chairman of Psychiatry
at UCLA) stated,
He was survived by his wife, Stella Oldendorf, three sons, and the implications of his work which are still being investigated.
In his honor, The Oldendorf Award is given annually by the American Society of Neuroimaging
based on the submission of a manuscript that involves clinical research in computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging
, SPECT or PET
scanning.
Computed tomography
X-ray computed tomography or Computer tomography , is a medical imaging method employing tomography created by computer processing...
.
Early life
William Oldendorf was born in 1925, the youngest of four children, in Schenectady, New YorkSchenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
. According to his sister Dorothy, William developed an interest in science and imaging through his fascination with telescopes. While still in high school, he placed one on the front sidewalk of their abode and studied the stars late into the night.
Academic education
Oldendorf graduated from high school at the age of 15 and afterwards attended Union CollegeUnion College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
-- completing premedical studies in just 3 years. He received his medical degree from the Albany Medical College
Albany Medical College
Albany Medical College is a medical school located in Albany, New York, United States. It was founded in 1839 by Amos Dean, Dr. Thomas Hun and others, and is one of the oldest medical schools in the nation...
in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
in 1947.
Medical training
Following medical internshipMedical intern
A medical intern is a term used in the United States for a physician in training who has completed medical school. An intern has a medical degree, but does not have a full license to practice medicine unsupervised...
at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, Oldendorf completed a residency in psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
through the New York State Department of Mental Health Residency
Residency (medicine)
Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. A resident physician or resident is a person who has received a medical degree , Podiatric degree , Dental Degree and who practices...
Training Program. Then he enlisted for active duty in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
as a medical officer and was posted at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
. Two years later Oldendorf left the Navy to complete a fellowship
Fellowship (medicine)
A fellowship is the period of medical training in the United States and Canada that a physician may undertake after completing a specialty training program . During this time , the physician is known as a fellow...
in neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
Hospitals in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
; for this reason, he was subsequently certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation that was founded in 1934 following conferences of committees appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Neurological Association, and the then Section on Nervous and Mental Diseases of the American...
as a diplomate in both specialties.
Professional career
In 1956, Oldendorf joined the faculty of the new medical schoolMedical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
and the staff of the nearby UCLA-affiliated West Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
Veterans Administration
Veterans Health Administration
The Veterans Health Administration is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the medical assistance program of the VA through the administration and operation of numerous VA outpatient clinics,...
Medical Center. He became an active member of the academic community, where his scientific, clinical, and teaching abilities were admired at the bedside, in seminars, at clinical conferences, in the auditorium, and in his laboratory. He engaged students and colleagues in long discussions about neurologic theory, the scientific process, or results of medical research. By 1959, Oldendorf was an attending neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
at the Wadsworth VA-UCLA Medical Center
Veterans Health Administration
The Veterans Health Administration is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the medical assistance program of the VA through the administration and operation of numerous VA outpatient clinics,...
where his ability to apply techniques from one field to another did not go unnoticed. He was universally characterized as "likable", "friendly", "amusing", "creative", "intense", and "humble".
Oldendorf's interest neuroimaging was precipitated by a dislike for invasive procedures (like pneumoencephalography
Pneumoencephalography
Pneumoencephalography is a medical procedure in which most of the cerebrospinal fluid is drained from around the brain and replaced with air, oxygen, or helium to allow the structure of the brain to show up more clearly on an X-ray image...
and direct carotid puncture
Common carotid artery
In human anatomy, the common carotid artery is an artery that supplies the head and neck with oxygenated blood; it divides in the neck to form the external and internal carotid arteries. - Structure :...
) that he performed as a clinical neurologist. Oldendorf found that these traumatic, tedious tests provided only limited and indirect information about the brain. At UCLA, he started his seminal investigations into the two major lines of research that would define his career: X-ray shadow radiography
Radiography
Radiography is the use of X-rays to view a non-uniformly composed material such as the human body. By using the physical properties of the ray an image can be developed which displays areas of different density and composition....
and cerebral angiography. The first line was influential in the evolving concept of neuroimaging
Neuroimaging
Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function/pharmacology of the brain...
; the second yielded fundamental knowledge of brain metabolism
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
and mechanisms of the blood-brain barrier
Blood-brain barrier
The blood–brain barrier is a separation of circulating blood and the brain extracellular fluid in the central nervous system . It occurs along all capillaries and consists of tight junctions around the capillaries that do not exist in normal circulation. Endothelial cells restrict the diffusion...
.
Role in development of neuroimaging
In 1959, Oldendorf conceived an idea for "scanning a head through a transmitted beam of X-rays, and being able to reconstruct the radiodensity patterns of a plane through the head" by watching an engineer who was working on an automated apparatus to reject frost-bitten fruit by detecting dehydrated portions. Not until 1961 did he complete a working prototype of his idea, apply (for $1700) for a patent on his idea, and publish an article detailing the work. Ingeniously, by using materials found in his home (such as his son's toy train, a phonograph turntable, and an alarm clock motor), Oldendorf demonstrated a method of producing cross-sectional images of soft tissue by back-projection and reconstructionReconstruction algorithm
In tomography, a variety of practical reconstruction algorithms have been developed to implement the process of reconstruction of a 3-dimensional object from its projections...
. In his landmark paper, also published in 1961, he described the basic concept later used by Allan McLeod Cormack
Allan McLeod Cormack
Allan MacLeod Cormack was a South African-born American physicist who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on X-ray computed tomography ....
to develop the mathematics behind computerized tomography, though Prof. Cormack was unaware of Oldendorf's work. In October, 1963 Oldendorf finally received a U.S. patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for a "radiant energy apparatus for investigating selected areas of interior objects obscured by dense material,". This work was recognized by Godfrey Hounsfield
Godfrey Hounsfield
Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield CBE, FRS, was an English electrical engineer who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Allan McLeod Cormack for his part in developing the diagnostic technique of X-ray computed tomography .His name is immortalised in the Hounsfield scale, a...
as the only other attempt at tomographic reconstruction
Tomographic reconstruction
The mathematical basis for tomographic imaging was laid down by Johann Radon. It is applied in computed tomography to obtain cross-sectional images of patients...
, and, indeed, formed the basis of much of his Nobel prize-winning work. The prototype developed by Dr. Hounsfield, however, did not lead to the development of the first industrial CAT scanning
Computed tomography
X-ray computed tomography or Computer tomography , is a medical imaging method employing tomography created by computer processing...
device. When suggested to a leading X-ray manufacturer of the time, the president of the company retorted,
Faced with this reaction, Oldendorf "turned his attention to other scientific work and heard nothing further about the idea until 1972."
However, his idea was a fundamental discovery which also led to MRI, positron emission tomography
Positron emission tomography
Positron emission tomography is nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body. The system detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide , which is introduced into the body on a...
(PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and other imaging techniques. Once these techniques became widely accepted, Dr. Oldendorf, along with William Markley McKinney, MD (1930–2003) were instrumental in promoting the use of Computed Tomography
Computed tomography
X-ray computed tomography or Computer tomography , is a medical imaging method employing tomography created by computer processing...
among neurologists to help decrease the use of superfluous and invasive tests.
Blood-brain barrier
Oldendorf made many other discoveries that have significantly affected neuroscienceNeuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
and the practice of medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
. He developed an original method to analyze blood flow in the brain and the kinetics
Pharmacokinetics
Pharmacokinetics, sometimes abbreviated as PK, is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to the determination of the fate of substances administered externally to a living organism...
of blood-brain permeability. The idea of the blood-brain barrier was already entrenched in medical science by this time, but had never been quantified. Oldendorf's work in measuring blood flow with radioactive isotopes was fundamental to the subsequent development of techniques now used in many nuclear medicine laboratories. His methods of assessing blood-brain barrier permeability increased knowledge of the mechanisms whereby drugs
DRUGS
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...
and metabolic substrates enter into the brain. Especially important was his characterization of more than a dozen independent carrier systems, along with their saturation kinetics.
Today, most of what is known of the selective permeability of the blood-brain barrier was either established by Oldendorf in his laboratory, or by others using his ingenious techniques. These results have been essential in developing PET and SPECT imaging; in studying glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
and brain metabolism; and in characterizing clinically important diseases such as cerebral ischemia
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
, starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
, and epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
. Oldendorf's experiments were also was the first to prove that cerebrospinal fluid
Cerebrospinal fluid
Cerebrospinal fluid , Liquor cerebrospinalis, is a clear, colorless, bodily fluid, that occupies the subarachnoid space and the ventricular system around and inside the brain and spinal cord...
functions as a "sink" in relationship to brain metabolism, a concept that is being investigated in relation to the pathophysiology
Pathophysiology
Pathophysiology is the study of the changes of normal mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions, either caused by a disease, or resulting from an abnormal syndrome...
of presenile dementias such as Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
Professional publications and societies
In his lifetime, Oldendorf wrote three textbooks and over 250 scientific articles, including The Quest for an Image of the Brain: Computerized Tomography in the Perspective of Past and Future Imaging Methods (Raven Press, New York, 1980) and Basics of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Kluwer Academic Press, Boston, 1988). The book Basics of Magnetic Resonance Imaging is notable for being co-authored with his son and namesakeNamesake
Namesake is a term used to characterize a person, place, thing, quality, action, state, or idea that has the same, or a similar, name to another....
, William Oldendorf, Jr.
Oldendorf was one of the 30 attendees of the Neurology Computed Tomography Symposium, organized by William Kinkel from September 24 to September 25, 1975, in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. He participated in the ad-hoc committee that unanimously voted to form the Society for Computerized Tomography so as to continue its educational activities. Realizing that other imaging modalities may eventually be prominent, the following year Oldendorf pushed to have the name of the society changed to Society for Computerized Tomography and Neuroimaging, and served as its president from 1978 to 1979. This society was to rename itself the American Society for Neuroimaging (ASN) in 1981, also with the prodding of Oldendorf.
Oldendorf was on several editorial boards and was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
. In 1992, he became the first neurologist ever to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
.
Awards and prizes
In 1974, he shared the Ziedses des Plantes Gold Medal (given by the German Society of Neuroradiology and the Medical Physics Society of Wurzburgin) with Godfrey HounsfieldGodfrey Hounsfield
Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield CBE, FRS, was an English electrical engineer who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Allan McLeod Cormack for his part in developing the diagnostic technique of X-ray computed tomography .His name is immortalised in the Hounsfield scale, a...
. Oldendorf was also awarded the Albert and Mary Lasker Award for Clinical Research in 1975 along with Prof. Hounsfield for "concepts and experiments which directly anticipated and demonstrated the feasibility of computerized tomography, which has revolutionized the field of neurological diagnosis". He received a Special Leadership Award from the American Academy of Neurology
American Academy of Neurology
The American Academy of Neurology is a professional society for neurologists and neuroscientists. As a medical specialty society it was established in 1949 by A.B. Baker of the University of Minnesota to advance the art and science of neurology, and thereby promote the best possible care for...
in 1980 for "contributions to clinical neurology, including computerized tomographic scanning, studies on the blood-brain barrier, and research on cerebral metabolism." In 1981 he received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service
President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service
Established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on 27 June 1957 by , the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service was created to allow the President to recognize civilian officers or employees of the federal government who have made contributions "so outstanding that the officer...
and the Medical Sciences Award from the UCLA Alumni Association
Alumni association
An alumni association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students. In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools , fraternities, and sororities often form groups with alumni from the same organisation...
.
Oldendorf was also
- Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (1986),
- Distinguished Founder of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine Science,
- Honorary Doctorate of Science (1982) from Albany Medical CollegeAlbany Medical CollegeAlbany Medical College is a medical school located in Albany, New York, United States. It was founded in 1839 by Amos Dean, Dr. Thomas Hun and others, and is one of the oldest medical schools in the nation...
and Union CollegeUnion CollegeUnion College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
, - Honorary Doctorate of Science (1986) from St. Louis University, and
- Keynote Speaker at the annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Neuroradiology in Tokyo in February, 1990
Nobel Prize controversy
Despite all his contributions to medical science, and despite the awards won in conjunction with the other eventual winners, Oldendorf was not awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
with his colleagues Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack
Allan McLeod Cormack
Allan MacLeod Cormack was a South African-born American physicist who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on X-ray computed tomography ....
in 1979. This was in concordance with the Nobel committee's tradition of denying the prize to researchers in applied research (who have M.D.
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
degrees) in favor of researchers in the basic sciences (who have Ph.D.
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
degrees). Rosalyn Yalow, a Nobel laureate herself, nominated Oldendorf for the prize and was reportedly upset that he did not get it. In the January 1980 issue of the journal Science (vol. 207, page 31), William J. Broad wrote an article titled "The Riddle of the Nobel Debate" in which he posited that politics in Stockholm forced the removal of Dr. Oldendorf's name during the nomination process. It was theorized that giving the prize to another American could sway pending patent litigation in Europe over the rights to the CT Scanner.
Death and legacy
Despite the controversy over the Nobel Prize, Oldendorf was remarkably aplomb about the issue. He was supposed to have remarkedHe died unexpectedly on December 14, 1992 from the complications of heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
. In his eulogy, L. Jolyon West (Chairman of Psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
at UCLA) stated,
He was survived by his wife, Stella Oldendorf, three sons, and the implications of his work which are still being investigated.
In his honor, The Oldendorf Award is given annually by the American Society of Neuroimaging
Neuroimaging
Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function/pharmacology of the brain...
based on the submission of a manuscript that involves clinical research in computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...
, SPECT or PET
Positron emission tomography
Positron emission tomography is nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body. The system detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide , which is introduced into the body on a...
scanning.