How KU chemistry research made MRIs possible
Every year, around 40 million magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are performed in the U.S., but most recipients of these exams may be unaware of how this technology relies on a discovery made by three University of Kansas researchers in the early 1900s.
In May 1903, a gas well was discovered in Dexter, Kansas, a town southeast of Wichita. At the time, new gas wells were christened with a lighting ceremony during which a flaming object — usually a bale of hay — was thrown in front of the gas to show its use for fuel. These ceremonies drew large crowds that celebrated the prospects of future sales of the natural gas.
But efforts to light the well in Dexter were unsuccessful. The flame merely blew out.
Kansas state geologist Erasmus Haworth, a KU geology professor, heard about the curiously nonflammable “Dexter gas” and brought samples back to Lawrence for testing. Two KU chemistry professors, Hamilton P. Cady and David F. McFarland, conducted research for two years before determining the gas contained helium, which at the time was thought to only be present in stars.
The discovery of terrestrial helium opened the doors to research and innovation that was unimaginable up until then. During World War I, the American government sponsored extensive research into the gas’s aviation potential. Decades later, scientists realized helium’s utility as a cooling agent. Today, liquid helium is used to cool magnetic coils in MRI machines that save countless lives every day.
Even today, KU scientists are advancing helium research. In 2023, Justin Douglas, a KU lab director, was awarded a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to recycle helium from research equipment. Helium molecules are small enough to escape Earth’s atmosphere once released into the air. Without new recycling methods like the one Douglas is developing, future scientists and clinicians won’t be able to conduct the same tests used today.
Basic research at KU and other academic institutions unlocks the technology of tomorrow and improves human health in Kansas and beyond.
