Sir Peter Mansfield, MRI pioneer dead at 83

By Inci Gundag

LONDON

The family of Nobel prize winning physicist, Sir Peter Mansfield, confirmed his death Thursday. He was 83.

Mansfield died Wednesday, the family said, but did not provide details surrounding his death.

He was a professor at the University of Nottingham. Professor Michael Merrifield who teaches astronomy at the school tweeted about his death.

"I regret to announce the death of Professor Sir Peter Mansfield, esteemed colleague and Nobel Prize winner for his founding work on MRI,” he said.

The English physicist received the Nobel award for medicine in 2003 for advanced uses for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

He is also the first person to experience the 'whole body scanner' MRI tool.