Douglas P. Boyd

Douglas Boyd received his Ph.D. in 1968. He went on to Bell Labs, Stanford University and then the University of California at San Francisco, where he founded the Physics Research Laboratory in the Department of Radiology. In 1983 he founded Imatron, Inc., which was acquired by GE in 2001, and remained there until 2004. He since founded several other companies. Dr. Boyd has contributed to the fields of imaging technology, accelerator and beam physics and medical physics. He developed the first fan beam-Xenon detector CT system, subsequently licensed to GE, as well as the electron beam-based Ultrafast CT and an explosives detection scanner for use in airline security. The electron beam CT scanner has become extremely important in preventive medicine as the only device that can reliably detect and quantify calcification in the coronary arteries and predict the onset of heart disease. We pay tribute to a brilliant entrepreneur and innovative scientist: Douglas P. Boyd.

In honor of two of its alumni receiving Distinguished Alumni Awards, the Department of Physics and Astronomy will be hosting a symposium, Distinguished Contributions to Applied and Basic Nuclear Physics: The Legacy of the Rutgers-Bell Tandem, on Friday, March 6, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.