Ultrasound Makes History
1998 marks the 50th anniversary of diagnostic ultrasound. From the late 1940s, when scans were done on patients seated in water-filled gun turrets to the late 1990s, when Color Doppler (as seen in TV weather reports) introduced color to black and white images, ultrasound has always been at the forefront of modern medicine.
Beginning as a science of navigation, the first form of ultrasound-called SONAR-was used on war ships during WWII for navigating the seas by bouncing sound waves off the ocean floor and interpreting the “echoes.” In the late 1940s, scientists began experimenting with these sound waves in a new way-to image the human body similar to X-ray. In the 1950s and ’60s, doctors used ultrasound with heart patients, while also branching out into obstetrics, gynecology and abdominal uses. These early images looked like a seismograph output (a record of an earthquake) with spikes and lines, depicting returning sound waves. In the 1970s, grayscale imaging was introduced, providing physicians with the first opportunity to see a cross-section of a person’s anatomy. In the early 1980s, computer software was “married” to ultrasound technology to usher in the age of modern ultrasound. Today, ultrasound is a sophisticated, 21st-century, computer-integrated diagnostic tool that provides dynamic and crisp visual insights into the human body.
Ultrasound’s historic role in modern medicine is being documented by the Smithsonian Institution. Among recent acquisitions to the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History are two ultrasound machines from California-based Acuson Corporation.