ACTA Model 0100 CT Scanner
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1974
name: label: inventor
content: Ledley, Robert S.
label: maker
content: Pfizer Medical Systems Company
notes: label: Description
content: CT (computed tomography), sometimes called CAT (computer-assisted tomography) scanning, uses x-ray equipment to obtain image data from different angles around the body, and then computers to process that information and show a cross-section of body tissues and organs. It can show soft tissue such as lung and blood vessels, as well as hard tissues such as bone.
label: Description
content: The 0100 ACTA Scanner (Automated, Computerized, Transverse Axial Scanner) was the first whole-body scanner. Earlier machines scanned only the head and needed a water bath. The ACTA scanner was devised by Robert Steven Ledley (1926–2012), and put into clinical operation in 1973.
label: Description
content: Robert Steven Ledley (1926-2012) held a dental degree from New York University and an M.A. in physics from Columbia University, and served in the Army Dental Corps during the Korean War. He then landed a job at the National Bureau of Standards. So too did his wife, Terry Wachtel, and her experience writing programs for the SEAC mainframe computer led him to become interested in computers. In 1956, Dr. Ledley became an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science. In the early 1970s, he assembled a group or researchers at the Georgetown University Medical Center to build the ACTA Scanner. In 1974, he established the Digital Information Science Corporation, to make and market ACTA scanners.
label: Description
content: Ref: “Md. Man to Join Inventors Hall of Fame,” Washington Post (Feb. 15, 1990), pp. 1 and 3.
label: Description
content: “Robert S. Ledley, 86, Dies; Revolutionized Radiology,” New York Times (July 26, 2012), p. A23.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: District of Columbia, Georgetown, Georgetown University Medical Center
topic: label: related object association proper name
content: Acta Scanner
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Georgetown University Medical Center, National Biomedical Research Foundation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1984.0680.010
label: accession number
content: 1984.0680
label: catalog number
content: 1984.0680.010
objectType: label: Object Name
content: CT scanner
label: Other Terms
content: CT scanner; CAT Scan; Rack, Logic Control; Medicine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 177.3 cm x 63.6 cm x 80 cm; 69 13/16 in x 25 1/16 in x 31 1/2 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 34 in x 73 in; 38.1 cm x 86.36 cm x 185.42 cm