It’s June, and that means it’s Paul McCartney’s birthday. On June 18, the former Beatle turns 83. Happy birthday, Paul.

So, it’s a great time to remind the world about the obscure if important role played by the Beatles in an unlikely field — medicine.

The scientist who is thought to have been most responsible for the invention of the CT scanner is Godfrey Hounsfield. Many millions of people have received a CT scan, widely called a CAT scan.

A computed tomography scan helps doctors diagnose many illnesses or injuries. It’s undoubtedly saved many lives by using X-rays in thin slices to provide a view inside your body.

Hounsfield worked for a company called English Musical Industries, or EMI. One part of the company sold records under the Parlophone label. Other divisions, however, produced a variety of products.

Hounsfield was an engineer on the nonmusical side of the business and worked at EMI through the 1960s.

As any Beatles fan can recite chapter and verse, a Parlophone producer, George Martin, signed the Fab Four to a recording contract in 1962. What followed was a string of hits and nearly 200 million records sold through the rest of the decade. EMI profits doubled.

Many argue that this rich vein of money allowed EMI to generously fund new product research. Hounsfield started work on his project in 1967, the year the Beatles’ made their seminal album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sitting on loads of cash, EMI hardly blinked at funding Hounsfield’s big idea.

Hounsfield would be awarded a Nobel Prize for work he accomplished, perhaps with a little help from his friends.