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Medicine · Recorded milestone

Medical ultrasound

Recorded year1958

Ian Donald adapts sonar to image the developing fetus.

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Built on

Active sonarRecorded · 1918enables
RadarRecorded · 1935enables

Led to

In vitro fertilisationRecorded · 1978enables
Focused ultrasound brain therapyRecorded · 2016enables
Incisionless sound-wave surgeryRecorded · 2023enables
Touchable hologramsForecast · ~2030enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.