Niece of Sir Godfrey Hounsfield who invented the CT scanner, joins campaign by Lloyd Richardson, of Grantham, to recognise his achievements with a blue plaque

The niece of a man whose invention “changed the world” of medicine has joined a campaign to honour his legacy.

Sir Godfrey Hounsfield is the man credited with the invention of the CT scanner, a ground-breaking piece of medical equipment which has become invaluable in helping to diagnose and treat people worldwide for the past five decades.

Last month, Lloyd Richardson, of Grantham, launched a campaign to recognise Sir Godfrey’s achievements with a blue plaque after describing the CT scanner as having saved “millions of lives”, including his own.

Now, Sir Godfrey’s niece, Lynda Hounsfield, has joined the campaign to celebrate her beloved uncle “who just wanted to help mankind.”

She said: “My uncle was a wonderfully friendly person, and totally devoted to his work.

“He was an inventor through and through. Always trying to figure out this and that worked.

“My grandmother would tell us about how when he was little, he took a broken clock apart and made it work again.

“He never married and didn’t have children of his own, so when he’d come to visit we’d hand him our broken things and he’d fix them.

“I loved him to bits, he was absolutely fabulous and I miss him ever so much.”

Lloyd and Lynda are now in the process of setting up a fundraising account, with the hope of raising £600 to cover the costs of commissioning a plaque.

Originally from Sutton on Trent, Sir Godfrey attended the former Magnus School in Newark (now the Magnus Academy) — where a plaque is proposed to be erected, and the school is supportive of the idea.

He overcame academic struggles and went on to become one of the only people ever accepted into the Royal College of Surgeons without a medical degree.

Sir Godfrey died in 2004, and is buried in Sutton on Trent churchyard, not far away from where Lynda now lives in Thorpe.

She added: “At school he was only ever interested in maths and science, but left without any qualifications.

“He volunteered for the RAF during the war and became very interested in radar after being given books to read.

“He played a part in putting radar into Lancasters — the Air Vice Marshall saw something in him and helped my uncle to get into engineering college.”

After the war, Sir Godfrey worked on developing radar and computers, and he came up with the idea of using the technology for medical purposes.

Despite resistance from his employer, he persisted and managed to persuade hospitals abroad and the NHS to believe in his invention.

In 1971, the first CT scan in a hospital helped to locate a brain tumour. Its value had been proven, interest soared, and the rest is history.

The invention won him the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1979.

“He kept being told to stop,“ said Lynda. “But as far as he was concerned, he knew the maths was going to work.”

“He just wanted to help mankind and that is the man he was.”

Lynda was also part of a campaign in recent years to save the CT scanner at Newark Hospital.