Ultrasonography 1
Ultrasonography
Evelyn Thomas
Physics 1010
Ultrasonography 2
Abstract
Not many woman can imagine going through their pregnancy without an ultrasound. But not too
long ago no one could get an ultrasound. It all started in the 1950’s, but wasn’t used for the
human body. It all started as a prototype from an instrument that was used to detect any flaws in
a ship. In this paper I’m going to talk about the history of the ultrasound, as well as who invented
it and why. How accurate it works, as well as how it works; whether it is safe to use on the
human body especially during a pregnancy. How is ultrasonography helping society with things
other than ultrasounds?
Ultrasonography 3
According to Joan Baker, president of Sound Ergonomics in Kenmore, Ultrasonography
has been around since the days of the ancient Greeks. It all started with Pythagoras, who became
famous for his theorem of right-angled triangles. He invented the sonometer; “Which was used
to study musical sounds.” (Ultrasound History) He was the first to study the difference between
sound waves and waves made by a pebble falling into calm water. But most people believe it all
started in 1877 by Pierre Currie’s discovery of Piezoelectricity. “35 years later, sonographic
imaging was developed my French professor and physicist Paul Langevin.” (Ultrasound History)
There was a great yearning of scientists and inventors to see inside the body. This drove
them “through the late 19th and 20th century to develop probes and scopes for diagnosis and
treatment.” In 1895 the invention of x-rays by William Conrad Roentgen’s, was one example of
the yearning to see inside the human body. Baker also says that the sinking of the titanic got
people wanting to detect objects that have sunk into the ocean. (Ultrasound History) “The first
patent for an underwater echo ranging sonar was filed at the British Patent Office by English
metereologist Lewis Richardson, one month after the sinking of the Titanic. The first working
sonar system was designed and built in the United States by Canadian Reginald Fessenden in
1914.” (A short History) Ultrasonic detection was first thought of by Constantin Chilowsky, who
brought it to the French government. The French government then turned the topic over to Paul
Langevin, who also happened to be one of the Curie brother’s first students. (Ultrasound History)
Ultrasounds, like many other inventions we have now, we owe to the
development of wars. The French government wanted Paul Langevin to create a device
capable of detecting the enemy’s submerged submarine during the First World War.
Thanks to the piezoelectric effect, which Paul had learned from the Curie brothers, he
Ultrasonography 4
was able to invent the device. It wasn’t completed by the First World War, but it was
ready by the Second World War. (Ultrasound History)
It was then made use of Sergei Sokolov, Karl Dussik, and his brother, Freiderich, George
Ludwig, and I’m sure many others. It was used as a cure-all. It was used for everything from
arthritic pains to gastric ulcers and eczema.
“Other ultrasound pioneers include Douglas Howry, a University of Colorado radiologist
who, in 1948, concentrated on the development of B-mode equipment that compared
cross-sectional anatomy to gross pathology. Howry was one of few radiologists in the
field of ultrasound, and he did his work in the basement of his home. “Every field can
claim at least one famous basement/garage pioneer,” she said. “Using 2.5 megahertz, he
produced a pulse-echo ultrasonic scanner in 1949.” (Ultrasound History)
The hand doppler was developed around 1956 by Robert Rushmore, a U.S. pediatrician
turned cardiovascular physiologist/bioengineer. He had 2 young engineers, Dean Franklin and
Don Baker, help him to design an instrument that was to be used to characterize the
cardiovascular system in dogs that were not put under anesthesia, and that is how the hand
Doppler started. (Ultrasound History)
According to baker the late 1960’s and early 1970’s was referred to as the sonic boom.
Klaus Born introduced the 2D echo during this time. Don Baker, Dennis Watkins, and John Reid
developed the pulsed Doppler that enabled blood flow to be detected in different depths in the
heart. In the early 1980’s people started to believe in ultrasounds again. In the 1990’s inventors
were able to create 3D and 4D images that the general public could look at and interpret what
they were seeing. Because this it made it more difficult because they were finding themselves
Ultrasonography 5
constantly telling their patients what they were looking at. Poor image quality made it harder for
people to accept it, although they continued to have high hopes for what it could become.
(Ultrasound History)
“In the early days, scanning equipment was very large. The first B scanner Baker
operated filled a room 12 feet by 12 feet, she said. “It was the invention of the transistor and
finally integrated circuitry that made it possible to build smaller and smaller equipment.” Today
though the equipment is so small it can easily be carried and used on the battle field and even in
space. (Ultrasound History)
“Ultrasound imaging involves bouncing ultrasonic sound waves about the audible range
of human hearing at body structures or tissues, and detecting the echoes that bounce back.”
Obstetric ultrasonography is used to see the fetus inside a mother’s womb. It can be used to
determine the sex of your baby and tell you whether or not your baby has any fetal abnormalities.
Some of those are microcephaly, absence of kidneys, spinal problems, and I’m sure many more
that aren’t on the site I’m getting this info from. (5 Fascinating)
During the ultrasound the waves are aimed at the abdomen. Depending on the angle of
the beam and the time it takes for echoes to return, the image of the fetus’s body is then produced
onto the screen. When ultrasounds on the fetus first started they could only get the head of the
fetus, but as it developed we could see the fine structures of the fetus. (5 Fascinating)
The ultrasound has been safely preformed on thousands of women. Although concerns of
whether it is safe is still around and will always be around. At a high power ultrasound waves are
able to damage the human tissues. (5 Fascinating) “Use of ultrasound for imaging or diagnostic
Ultrasonography 6
purposes employs frequencies ranging from 1.6 to 10 megahertz. (Ultrasonography) Nicolson
said, “We can be confident that at all levels currently used for clnical investigation, ultrasound is
safe. No pattern of damage has been found.” (5 Fascinating)
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Works Cited
Beth W. Orenstein, (1 December 2008), Ultrasound History, retrieved from,
http://www.radiologytoday.net/archive/rt_120108p28.shtml
Dr, Joseph Woo. A short History of the development of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and
Gynecology,
retrieved from, http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/history1.html
Tanya Lewis, (16 May 2013), 5 Fascinating Facts About Fetal Ultrasounds, retrieved from,
http://www.livescience.com/32071-history-of-fetal-ultrasound.html
National Center for Biotechnology Information, Ultrasonography, retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68014463