Leo J. Neuringer; Developed Magnetic Imaging

Leo J. Neuringer, 65, a physicist who helped develop magnetic resonance imaging. The technique, popularly known as MRI, is widely used to take cross-section pictures of the human body, using powerful magnets rather than X-rays. The pictures are highly detailed and can provide images of soft tissues as well as bones, while X-rays can only provide photographs of bones. Neuringer, who retired last month, had taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1963. He founded MIT’s High Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Resource under the sponsorship of the National Institutes of Health in 1974 and served as its director until 1989. His research concentrated on expanding MRI technology to examine the structure and functions of molecules and cells in cardiac surgery, brain disease, diabetes and cancer. On Tuesday in Boston of cancer.