MicroscopyPioneers
Ken Smith [1]
receive the column of the microscope. In August 1965, a ten- sion of 700 kV was achieved and duly celebrated! In that same year, Ken was appointed to a tenured post in the CUED, and the project was then brought to a successful conclusion by Ken’s successors. Te instrument was exploited commercially by AEI, who sold several EM7 HVEMs. Ken was also inti- mately involved in a later project launched by Cosslett, jointly with the CUED, to construct a high-resolution transmission electron microscope with a maximum tension of 600 kV. Te success of this was largely due to the devotion of two of Ken’s colleagues, John Cleaver and John Catto, and later to David Smith. Among the many ways in which his work was recog- nized was the award of the Duddell Medal and Prize of the (London) Institute of Physics together with Ellis Cosslett, Hon- orary Fellowship of the Royal Microscopical Society (1984) and the Distinguished Scientist award (1993) of the MSA. Ken made several attempts to exploit his work commer-
cially. Tree start-up companies were launched: the short- lived Cambridge Western, Granta Electronics, and Synoptics. Granta Electronics furnished a widely used soſtware suite for lens design and was wound up only in 2012. Synoptics was the most successful, but Ken was obliged to withdraw from his role of Chairman by severe back problems. We have seen Ken the successful professional electrical
engineer; it is time to say a few words about his origins. He was born on March 20, 1928 in Birmingham, England where his father ran a shop selling and repairing “wireless sets,” as we called radios in those days, and bicycles. Behind the shop was a large garage in which cars were stored and their batteries recharged, and it was there that Ken saw his first Alvis. Owing to the Depression, Ken’s father had to leave his business and joined a firm in Coventry. Tis deprived Ken of an education at a Birmingham grammar school, but he was soon enrolled in the Coventry Junior Technical College, which led to an apprentice- ship at the British Tomson Houston Company. Here he spent
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his wartime years. Te war over, he was awarded a technical state schol- arship, which enabled him to go to university. He was lucky enough to be accepted by Fitzwilliam House, Cam- bridge (aſter a crash course in Latin, indispensable for entry into the uni- versity). I give all these details to show how difficult it was for a boy from a modest background to have such an impressive career. On graduation, he was invited by Oatley to become his second PhD student. But his life was not all work; the music of the great ukulele player George Formby, whose songs are just as catchy today as they were 80 years ago, inspired him to take up that instrument as well as the guitar. He remained a melomane all his life, Bach and organ music being his favorites. He died on March 15, 2020 at his home in Cambridge with his wife Sheila and son Laurence.
Reference [1] Reprinted from Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics, volume 177, KCA Smith, “Electron microscopy at Cam- bridge University with Charles Oatley and Ellis Cosslett,” p. 189 (2013), with permission from Elsevier.
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