1970–1979
AAA Presidents
1970-1971
Raymond Carl Truex
1971-1972
David Bodian
1972-1973
William U. Gardner
1973-1974
John W. Everett
1974-1975
Russell T. Woodburne
n 1970
1975-1976
John C. Finerty
1976-1977
Carmine D. Clemente
1977-1978
Newton B. Everett
1978-1979
Berta V. Scharrer
1979-1980
Daniel C. Pease
n 1973
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as
a tool for medical diagnosis
Carmine Clemente
Carmine Clemente’s 1973 book, Anatomy: A Regional Atlas of the
Human Body, is one of two revered anatomical texts. The other,
Gray’s Anatomy, was given an overhaul by Dr. Clemente in 1985.
Raymond Damadian, a medical doctor and
research scientist, develops magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) as a tool for medical diagnosis.
He discovers that different kinds of animal tissue
emit response signals that vary in length, and
that cancerous tissue emits response signals that
last much longer than those from non-cancerous
tissue. MRI has advantages in that it is noninvasive, uses non-ionizing radiation, and has a
high soft-tissue resolution and discrimination in
any imaging plane.
n 1974
Carmine Clemente
Discovery of ‘Lucy’ hominin fossil - Australopithecus
afarensis
Dr. Raymond Damadian, Dr. Lawrence Minkoff
and Dr. Michael Goldsmith (left to right) and the
completed Indomitable (the world’s first magnetic
resonance scanner) that performed the first scan of a
live human being.
‘Lucy’ is a 3.2 million year-old Australopithecus afarensis
discovered in 1974 by Donald Johanson and Maurice Taieb. ‘Lucy’
is among the most famous hominin fossils because, at the time
of her discovery, she is the most complete early hominin fossil
known. Her nickname comes from the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the
Sky with Diamonds,” which the team of paleontologists listened to
in celebration on the night of her discovery.
Nobel prizewinner, George E. Palade
The first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of
a live human body (a cross section of the live human
chest).
Edward Allen Boyden receives the first Henry Gray Award
The Henry Gray Award for service to the scientific community is
established in 1970 and the first recipient is Edward Allen Boyden.
Roland Alden, the president of AAA at the time, presents the award
with this comment: “On the twentieth of March, in the year 1886,
the first recipient of the Henry Gray Award was born in Bridgewater,
Massachusetts; he is Edward Allen Boyden.”
Edward Allen Boyden
In 1954, the year of Boyden’s retirement, a dinner is held in his
honor and a separate supplement to The Anatomical Record is
“privately issued” with only two copies made. One of the copies of
this supplement is on display at the 125th Anniversary Meeting.
Recommendation to establish a Committee on Educational Affairs
Observation of unstained tissue with a
scanning laser microscope
M. David Egger and Paul Davidovits present “Observation
of unstained tissue with a scanning laser microscope.” A
scanning laser microscope specially designed to create
virtual thin sections in translucent material is used to
photograph unstained, unsectioned nerve fibers, spinal
cord, dorsal root ganglia, and other tissues.
Clarence C. Little obituary
George E. Palade
Lucy’s bones on a slab
n 1975
AAA agrees to abolish all smoking in scientific sessions
Significant work on HRP
Jennifer LaVail receives the Herrick Award for
her work on horseradish peroxidase (HRP)
retrograde transport in neurons. Retrograde
transport reveals which brain areas are
connected to one another by transporting
material “backwards” from the terminal of the
neuron to the cell body.
n 1971
n 1972
George E. Palade shares the
1974 Nobel prize with Albert
Claude and Christian de Duve for
discoveries in cell biology. Palade’s
innovations in electron microscopy
and cell fractionation together
lay the foundations of modern
molecular cell biology. His most
notable discovery is the presence
of ribosomes on the endoplasmic
reticulum, which he first describes
in 1955.
Duane E. Haines
Jennifer LaVail
In 1975-1976, Duane E. Haines begins
studies that eventually result in proof that
cerebellar cortical efferents are organized in a zonal pattern.
Overlaid on the micrograph of the fish is
a slice of its brain measured with a laser
scanning microscope, in which single
neurons are visible.
Clarence C. Little’s passion was to find the genetic causes of cancer. His greatest
contribution to cancer research, however, is the discovery of an important nongenetic
cause (the murine mammary tumor virus). He is the first director of the Jackson Laboratory,
which transforms the use of murine models for science. Little also recruits the Women’s
Field Army Against Cancer to teach
self breast exams, participates in the
establishment of the National Cancer
Institute in 1937, and serves as the
President of the University of Michigan.
His tenure at the university is controversial
due to his outspoken support of eugenics,
birth control, and euthanasia.
n 1976
Discovery that oncogenes are activated proto-oncogenes
Dominique Stehelin, J. Michael Bishop, and Harold E. Varmus of the University of
California demonstrate that oncogenes are activated proto-oncogenes. A proto-oncogene
is a normal gene that can become an oncogene due to mutations or increased expression.
They are found in many organisms, including humans. For this discovery, Bishop and
Varmus are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1989.
J. Michael Bishop
Harold E. Varmus
n 1976
AAA decides to include poster sessions in the annual meeting
Clarence C. Little with students and mice.
Murine model
First commercial computed
tomography (CT) scanner
n 1978
R. R. Bensley fund
Invented by Sir Godfrey Hounsfield at the
EMI Central Research Laboratories, the CT
is considered to be the greatest innovation
in the field of radiology since the discovery
of X-rays. This cross-sectional imaging
technique makes it possible to visualize
phenomena, including disease processes, in
live human bodies. By providing diagnostic
radiology with better insight into the
pathogenesis of the body, CT scans increase
patients’ chances for recovery. In 1979,
Hounsfield and A.M. Cormack are awarded
the Nobel Prize in medicine for the invention
of CT.
AAA decides to use the Bensley fund to establish a lecture in honor of a young cell
biologist, with the first lecture given in 1979.
n 1979
Wistar patents the method of producing monoclonal antibodies
against malignant tumors
This technology leads to a number of targeted therapeutics.
Pioneering work in electromyography
Monograph on muscle regeneration
Bruce Carlson publishes a monograph on
muscle regeneration that validates first-hand
observations of A. N. Studitsky’s research in
the Soviet Union.
Typical CT Scout view as used for planning an exam.
John V. Basmajian becomes internationally known for his pioneering
work in electromyography, the study of electrical discharges from
muscles. His book, Muscles Alive: Their Functions Revealed by
Electromyography, is published in 1979.
John V. Basmajian
This illustration interprets a pair of foraging Australopithecus afarensis,
known most famously from the fossil of “Lucy.” Afarensis was certainly
adapted to upright walking, but still retained powerful arms for tree climbing.
American Association of Anatomists | Celebrating 125 years of Teaching and Research