Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.
Dr Pek Van Andel, alongside Professor Willibrord Weijmar Schultz, Ida Sabelis and Eduard Mooyaart, used the images as the basis of a study published in 1999 called Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Male and Female Genitals During Coitus and Female Sexual Arousal.
The purpose of the study was to discover whether imaging of the male and female genitals during coitus was feasible whilst also investigating former and current ideas about human anatomy during intercourse and female arousal inparticular. The group also studied the volume of the uterus during sexual arousal.
During an MRI scan, subjects lie in a strong magnetic field with radio-frequency waves directed at their body. The field strength of MRI scanners is measured in tesla.
The group were awarded the Ig Nobel prize in medicine, in the year 2000.
" The Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology." http://www.improbable.com/ig/
