Re: History: A. M. Cormack, CT scan pioneer

[LIPTONW@dteenergy.com]

Many thanx for posting Allan Cormack's obituary. 
 
One of the most memorable experiences of my undergraduate career at Tufts 
University (BA, 1967), was the privilege of taking several physics courses 
with him.  At that time, he had essentially completed his work on X-ray 
tomography, but had not yet been awarded the Nobel Prize.   
 
He was a tough, but fair and friendly teacher, who enjoyed talking with 
undergraduates, and was always available to answer my many questions.  I 
particularly remember his courses in wave motion and quantum mechanics.  
Making it through these courses with him was when I started to learn how to 
think.  The skills that he taught me transcend the physics discipline. 
 
I visited him after graduation, around 1972.  I just dropped in, and he was 
glad to see me.  I particularly remember two of his remarks: 
 
1.  We discussed the irony of the decline in funding for physics research. 
In 
the "good old days", of the 1960's, the smartest physics grad students
wanted 
to get into high energy research groups, while acoustics groups were for the 
high energy rejects.  Now, acoustics graduates were doing very well, while 
high energy physicists were, "the most highly trained unemployables in the 
history of civilization!" 
 
2.  Dr. Cormack had little sympathy, however, for those high energy
physicists 
who couldn't find work in their field.  He believed that, "A degree is a 
hunting license, not a meal ticket."   
 
When Dr. Cormack was awarded the Nobel Prize, I wrote to him, and received a 
personal response. 
 
I will greatly miss him.  He can never be replaced, and we are all a little 
bit poorer without him. 
 
 
 
The opinions expressed are strictly mine. 
It's not about dose, it's about trust. 
 
Bill Lipton 
liptonw@dteenergy.com 
 
You wrote: 
 
Boston Globe 
 
 
Allan MacLeod Cormack, a "modest genius" whose "hobby" 
 
of research on X-ray tomography led to the development 
 
of the CT scan and a Nobel Prize for medicine, died 
 
Thursday at his home in Winchester, Massachusetts [USA]. 
 
He was 74. 
 

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