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Renowned medical physicist from the University Medical Center Freiburg supports young researchers in robotics competition on the topic of space

How does magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) work? And could this imaging procedure also be used to examine astronauts in space? Prof. Dr. Jürgen Hennig, Scientific Director of the Department of Medical Physics at the University Medical Center Freiburg, answered these and other questions in a joint discussion with the "Gobots" youth team from Offenburg University of Applied Sciences at the beginning of January. The young inventors are taking part in the annual "First Lego League" robotics competition this year. In keeping with the annual motto of the competition "Into Orbit - Life and Travel in Space", the young people are developing ideas for what an MRI device for space could look like. They presented their ideas to Prof. Hennig using a model they had made themselves and then questioned him in detail about MRI technology and the feasibility of their project. 

"This is an original idea and it's precisely visions like this that science thrives on," said Prof. Hennig. The chemist and medical physicist conducts research in the field of medical imaging and is internationally regarded as one of the pioneers of magnetic resonance imaging in clinical diagnostics. He has worked at the Freiburg University Medical Center since 1984. There he established the Magnetic Resonance Imaging working group, which now has more than 80 employees. He has received a number of exceptional grants and honors for his research, including the most highly endowed project funding from the EU, the Reinhard Koselleck Grant from the German Research Foundation DFG, and the Max Planck Research Award in the biosciences/medicine category. 

Captions: 
Image 1: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Hennig from the University Medical Center Freiburg met with the young inventors of the youth team "Gobots" from Offenburg University of Applied Sciences to talk about their idea for this year's youth robotics competition "First Lego League". 
Image 2: This is what the young people's model for an MRI in space looks like. 
Copyright: University Medical Center Freiburg