So why is an aerospace engineer from GE Global Research visiting GE Healthcare in Milwaukee? I wish I could say it’s because I am finally realizing my dream of making the world’s first supersonic pulse detonation MRI machine, but the truth is that I took a wrong turn out of my driveway in upstate New York, and before I knew it – I was in Milwaukee. Well – okay, that’s not really true.
Seriously, I was lucky enough to arrange an escape from my regular day job at the Research Center in order to spend some quality time with the Barbarian Group. I figure I have lots to learn in life – so, well here I am.
First off, Ben, Noah and Michelle are just really amazingly nice people, and our host, Sam, has done an incredible job organizing our visit. Today was incredible – we spent the day learning about all kinds of GE Healthcare products and new initiatives. I had never actually seen an MRI machine (let alone understood how it worked) – so this is all new to me. Did you know that modern MRI machines use superconducting magnets that are cooled down to 4 K (-452 F) with liquid helium? Uhh… that’s really cold. Don’t worry, it’s all completely safe – the supermagnet just helps get very high resolution image scans.
For me, it’s interesting because it’s very different from the 5000 K temperatures I used to study in grad school when looking at orbital reentry aerothermodynamics (like when the Shuttle returns to Earth). I guess it’s a different world over here… hey it’s only brain surgery, it’s not like it’s rocket science (sorry - terrible joke – couldn’t resist).