The M. I. T. project "The Detection of Incranial Pathology by Ultrasound", carried out by Richard Bolt, H T Ballantyne and Theodor Hueter in 1950, as reported in "The Tech", the official Newspaper of the M. I. T. Undergraduate.

It was reported in the article:

"Acoustic Lab works on Tumor Technique

Ultrasonic may give new Brain Diagnosis

A new approach to the problem of detection and diagnosis of brain tumors and other abnormalities in the body is being investigated by the Acoustics Laboratory under a project entitled "The Detection of Intracranial Pathology by Ultrasound." The project is still in its infancy and may take years of research before clinically satisfactory methods of diagnosis can be perfected. Yet, a great deal of progress has been made and it appears that ultrasonics will find many important applications in medicine. Before commencing this project, Doctors Hueter and Ballantine and Professor Bolt visited Doctors K. and T. Dussik in Austria. The Dussiks have pioneered in the use of ultrasound for brain tumor detection and the present program is an extension and refinement of their work.

When a beam of ultrasound is sent through the brain, a certain amount of it is absorbed, refracted and reflected before the beam is picked up by the receiver on the other side. The amount is determined by such things as elasticity, viscosity and density of the brain tissue. Influence of these factors on the beam of ultrasound can lead to a "picture" of brain topography by a process called "scanning." A beam of ultrasound is sent through various regions of the head and the transmitted intensities are picked up to give a graphic picture of important structures of the brain. The information obtained from these experiments has been sufficient to yield an outline of the liquid filled ventricles in the brain."

The image was retrieved from the M.I.T. archive at: http://kurzweil.mit.edu/archives/VOL_070/TECH_V070_S0100_P001.pdf

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