'Jedi' helmet, used with Cryogenic Magnetic Resonance Imaging Machine
- Made:
- 1980 in United States
- maker:
- Data General and
- Data General and
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Group of 'Jedi' helmets for use in MRI scanning of the brain, 1984. General view. Black background.
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
One of a group of 'Jedi' helmets for use in MRI scanning of the brain, 1984. Front three quarter view. White background.
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
One of a group of 'Jedi' helmets for use in MRI scanning of the brain, 1984. Front three quarter view. Black background.
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
One of five 'Jedi helmets,' silver inner helmet, used with Cryogenic Magnetic Resonance Imaging Machine and associated computing equipment by Data General, United States,1980.
To take MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans of the brain, these helmets were worn by children and adults. The coils are aerials for picking up MRI signals. Naming them after the Jedi knights in Star Wars films encouraged children to put them on and not to be frightened.
MRI builds up a picture of the human body by using high frequency radio waves known as NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance). MRI does not expose the body to radiation or invasive surgery and it can image soft tissues more effectively than X-ray-based methods.
On display
Science Museum: Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
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Look closer
How Star Wars helped brain scanningDetails
- Category:
- Radiomedicine
- Object Number:
- 1993-1003/2 Pt1
- Materials:
- brass (copper, zinc alloy), copper (alloy), electrical components and plastic (unidentified)
- type:
- component - object
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- credit:
- Hammersmith Hospital
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