Fetal Conceptions: The Development of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Construction of Normality in Pregnancy, 1955-1971

While scholarly discussions of ultrasound imaging have often focused on its political and cultural implications, this thesis shifts the focus to the formative years of the technology in Glasgow, Scotland. It traces ultrasound from its first experiments in 1955 to its dispersion into routine antenatal care by 1971. This was a period throughout which ultrasound cultivated a new form of visual knowledge that changed how both women and doctors conceptualised and understood ‘normal pregnancy’.