But there is one thing that all of us would agree on - a singular, amazing truth: A never-before-seen magnet, cooled to almost absolute zero, ramping up to 1.5 Tesla field strength. Powerful enough to rip air tanks off the floor and fly them through the air. Composite RF coils in a long bore. A 50 centimeter diametric spherical volume of magnetic homogeneity for the imaging sweet spot. Human images reconstructed by computer algorithms, visible on a computer monitor. Truth. Those elements need be present in every person’s recollection who was legitimately close to the action. That is the central tenet of why 100’s of people gathered together in that place at that time.
A handful of researchers in Schenectady were the first to know. More of us assembled - including Angela and me - at a rambling Wisconsin industrial park for the early team. Then on to a cavernous new temple-like building in a nearby city. But the MRI itself? Powerful, brilliant, imposing, transformational, sensational, revolutionary...unforgettable. And it marks a fixed narrative in time: Magnet, absolute zero cooling, proprietary RF coils, patient-subject, computer reconstruction, images on a screen.
Folks still living can rightly correct me or add depth. I was there, they were there. We were together for about three years at the height of the blockbuster Signa introduction. What a hearty, hard working group of individuals!
That, I believe is a glimpse into what may have occurred in the years following Jesus' ministry. Marked by the earth shaking weekend of death and resurrection we now call Easter. Gospels and letters were assembled within decades following those indelible, miraculous events.
