US chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2003 for his contributions to the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He shared the award with English physicist Peter Mansfield.

Lauterbur was the first to show that introducing gradients in a magnetic field could be used to generate two-dimensional images. He determined that by analysing the characteristics of radio waves emitted as the magnetic field passed through an object, a two-dimensional picture of the scanned object could be constructed. This technique was called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In 1973, Lauterbur demonstrated that the addition of gradient magnets allowed cross-sectional images of a heavy-water cylinder surrounded by normal water to be obtained. This was the first time that an imaging technique was able to determine the difference between the two types of water. The ability to image internal organs using a non-invasive, accurate method is of enormous importance for medical diagnosis and treatment - MRI is such a technique.