Co-inventor of electron microscope dies

The electron microscope came in at number 16 on CBC TV's recent 50 Greatest Canadian Inventions. One of the two co-inventors, James Hillier, recently died in New Jersey, aged 91. Born in Brantford, he was a graduate student at the University of Toronto, working under Prof. Eli Burton, when he and another student, Albert Prebus, created the world's first practical electron microscope, capable of magnifying objects thousands of times.

UPDATE (2007/01/25): The Globe and Mail published a nice obituary yesterday of Hillier, and it is worth adding that Hillier was a member of the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. There is also a circa 1962 electron microscope on display at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, in honour of the invention.