By Zola Elder
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Robert Steven Ledley (June 28, 1926 – July 24, 2012), professor of physiology and biophysics and professor of radiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, pioneered the use of electronic digital computers in biology and medicine. In 1959, he wrote two influential articles in Science: “Reasoning Foundations of Medical Diagnosis” (with Lee B. Lusted) and “Digital Electronic Computers in Biomedical Science”. Both articles encouraged biomedical researchers and physicians to adopt computer technology.
In 1960 he established the National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), a non-profit research organization dedicated to promoting the use of computers and electronic equipment in biomedical research. At the NBRF Ledley pursued several major projects: the early 1960s development of the Film Input to Digital Automatic Computer (FIDAC), which automated the analysis of chromosomes; the invention of the Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial (ACTA) whole-body CT scanner in the mid-1970s; managing the Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure (created in 1965 by Margaret O. Dayhoff); and the establishment of the Protein Information Resource in 1984. Ledley also served as editor of several major peer-reviewed biomedical journals.
In 1990, Ledley was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1997. He retired as president and research director of the NBRF in 2010.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Franz Gruber (composer) –
- Andrew Carnegie (industrialist) –
- Georg Kaiser (dramatist) –
- Virgil Thomson (composer) –
- Helen Gahagan Douglas (politician) –
- Joe DiMaggio (baseball player) –
- John Larroquette (actor) –
- Amy Grant (singer) –
- John F. Kennedy, Jr. (son of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy) –
- Christina Applegate (actress) –
- Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Welch Bush (fraternal twin daughters of President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush) –
Died
- Upton Sinclair (writer) –
- Flip Wilson (actor & comedian) –
- Rance Howard (actor) –
Events
- First sword-swallower performance in the U.S.–
- First YMCA in North America opened, in Montreal, Quebec–
- Last log entry for Mary Celeste before crew disappeared –
- Greenback Party (originally, National Independent Party) organized–
- American College of Surgeons incorporated–
- Albert Einstein formulated his general theory of relativity–
- The first door to King Tut’s tomb was opened–
- President John F. Kennedy was buried at 3:34 pm EST in Arlington National Cemetery–
- Robert S. Ledley granted a patent for CAT scan–
- Rene Levesque became premier of Quebec–
- U.S. chess champion John Donaldson wed Soviet champion Elena Akhmilovskaya–
- Ireland voted to legalize divorce–
Weather
- A tornado ripped through Portland, Arkansas–
- Steubenville, Ohio, received 36.3 inches of snow–
- West Virginia received 57 inches of snow–
- A blizzard hit the Appalachian states and nearby areas. Hartford, Connecticut, recorded gusts of 100 miles (160km) per hour.–
- Winds atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire were recorded at 160 miles per hour–
COURTESY www.almaanc
