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Professor John Mallard to receive Freedom of the City of Aberdeen
14 August 2004
The Freedom of the City of Aberdeen will be conferred on Professor John Mallard in recognition of his world acclaimed, pioneering research work in medical imaging on Saturday, August 14.
The date for the conferral, which will take place at the Music Hall, was confirmed this afternoon.
There will be a civic procession with Professor Mallard using a horse drawn carriage from the Town House, along Union Street to the Music Hall. In the evening there will also be a civic dinner at the Beach Ballroom.
The retired Professor of Medical Physics at the University of Aberdeen will receive the highest honour the city can bestow following in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela and the Queen Mother.
The 77-year-old who still lives in Aberdeen retired in 1992.
He joined the University in 1965 as the first Professor of Medical Physics and the first holder of the Chair in this subject in Scotland.
Before joining the University he had a distinguished career culminating as Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Physics Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. During that time he was instrumental in a number of significant developments in the field of radionuclide imaging, building the first imaging device in the UK and being involved in the first European brain tumour imaging trials.
After arriving in Aberdeen in the early 1970s he built the first British tomographic imager, for 3D imaging of radionuclide distributions in the body. This preceded the development of Hounsfield's X-ray CT scanner by several years. It was also during his early days at Aberdeen that his initial work on imaging using electron spin resonance developed into nuclear magnetic resonance imaging.
His major contribution to medical imaging was in magnetic resonance imaging. His group was responsible for some of the major discoveries which led to this technique becoming a clinically viable, including the concept of spin wrap imaging which is used in imagers to this day.
The production, in 1980, of the first clinically viable magnetic resonance images from patients in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was a major scientific event. The benefits that his discovery has brought to people since then cannot be under-estimated.
In 1998 a brand new centre, named the John Mallard Scottish PET centre, costing more than £3 million, was opened in Aberdeen by the Minister of Health, following successful fund raising by John Mallard's successor Professor Peter Sharp.
There have been only 38 Freedom ceremonies in Aberdeen since the start of the 20th Century. The Freedom ceremony has its origins in the 12th Century. At one time a recipient was required to own arms and be prepared to use them in defence of the city.
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