Godfrey Hounsfield and the dawn of computed tomography.

Objective: To provide a historical account of the events surrounding the development of the computed tomography scanner.

Methods: Information was obtained by interviewing people who worked with Sir Godfrey Hounsfield and Dr. James Ambrose at Atkinson Morley's Hospital in the 1970s, and from published books, articles, and several web sites, including the Nobel web site.

Results: The computed tomography scanner was successfully developed because of the collaboration between an imaginative engineer, Godfrey Hounsfield, who created the machine, and a brilliant neuroradiologist, James Ambrose, who demonstrated its wide clinical significance.

Conclusion: The computed tomography scanner represents one of the most important contributions to neurosurgical practice in the past 100 years, and its development is a remarkable story of scientific endeavor.