'Jedi' helmet, used with Cryogenic Magnetic Resonance Imaging Machine
- Made:
- 1980 in United States
- maker:
- Data General and
- Data General and



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
If you are visiting to see this object, please contact us in advance to make sure that it will be on display.
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
Cite this page
Rights
We encourage the use and reuse of our collection data.
Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence
Download
Download catalogue entry as json
View manifest in IIIF viewer
Add to Animal Crossing Art Generator
Download manifest IIIF
Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website.