CT Scanner

Hello there. My name is CT Scanner, but you can think of me as a magical camera. Imagine a big, beautiful birthday cake with layers of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry jam. Wouldn't it be amazing if you could see all those colorful layers without even cutting a single slice? Well, that's kind of what I do. I am a special kind of camera, but instead of taking pictures of smiling faces, I take pictures of the inside of things, especially people. Before I was around, doctors had a very tricky time figuring out why someone’s tummy might hurt or why their head felt achy. It was like trying to solve a puzzle with most of the pieces missing. I was created to give them a peek inside, to help them see everything clearly so they could help people feel better.

My story began with two very clever men, Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack. They were my creators. Godfrey was a wonderful thinker who loved to solve problems. One day, while he was on a lovely walk, a brilliant idea popped into his head. He looked at a simple box and wondered, 'Could I figure out what's inside the box just by looking at it from every single side?'. He thought and thought and decided to try it with pictures. He used special pictures called X-rays, which can see through things, and a super-smart computer. The computer’s job was to take all the X-ray pictures from all the different sides and put them together like a puzzle. It worked. It created one big, clear picture of the inside. Then came the most exciting day of my life. On October 1st, 1971, I was finally ready. I took my very first picture of the inside of a person's head. The doctors were amazed. They could see a problem that they couldn't see before, and because they could see it, they knew just how to help.

After that first amazing picture, I started going to hospitals all over the world. I became a doctor’s best helper, like a superhero sidekick. I am not scary at all. People just lie down for a little while, and I quietly spin around them, taking my special pictures. I can peek inside brains to see where a headache is coming from, look at tummies to find the source of a tummy ache, and even check on bones from your head to your wiggly toes. It makes me so happy to know that I am a doctor's special set of eyes. Every time I take a picture, I feel proud because I know I am helping someone get better and stay healthy. It is the best job in the world.