I don't know if this can be counted for as physics, but to my knowledge the radon transformation was mostly something mathematicians thought about without any application. Now, it is widely used (and necessary) to transform images in tomography.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon_transform

I don't know if this can be counted for as physics, but to my knowledge the radon transformation was mostly something mathematicians thought about without any application. Now, it is widely used (and necessary) to transform images in tomography.

1917 - Radon transform introduced by Johann Radon

1970s - First Computer Tomograph Scan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon_transform

I don't know if this can be counted for as physics, but to my knowledge the radon transformation was mostly something mathematicians thought about without any application. Now, it is widely used (and necessary) to transofrm images in tomografy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon_transform

I don't know if this can be counted for as physics, but to my knowledge the radon transformation was mostly something mathematicians thought about without any application. Now, it is widely used (and necessary) to transform images in tomography.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon_transform