Research-Electron Microscopy

John Venables: Electron Microscopy and Surface Physics

Introduction and Summary

Sussex Physics was a wonderful place to get a first "proper job". After a PhD in Cambridge and a 3-year post-doc period in Illinois, it was great to have an exciting new job to return to a beautiful part of the UK. I wish to pay tribute to Ken Smith, our foundation Professor of Experimental Physics. It was Ken who appointed me to start at Sussex to start in the Autumn term of 1994. I had known Ken in Cambridge, where I demonstrated (assisted) in his Part II Physics Laboratory as a graduate student. Work on Electron Microscopy was very strong in Peter Hirsch's Metal Physics group [1], and so I was able to get a post-doc position in the USA at the University of Illinois, and then join Sussex at a formative stage. 

This page is about the Electron Microscopy and Surface Physics research group at Sussex. We were not isolated in our interests, but had overlaps with the group on Particle-Solid interactions and also to other efforts in Condensed Matter Physics, Low Temperature Physics and Materials Science. Michael Thompson and Robert Cahn were both appointed to Professorships in 1965, in Physics and Materials Science respectively. These appontments and those that followed greatly increased the possibilities for collaboration, both in research and in graduate level and in specialist undergraduate teaching across departmental lines. And, although we were passionate about our Science and research in particular, Sussex was a place where many other activities, especially of an interdisciplinary nature, were encouraged.  

Sussex literally gave me, and by extension all of us, a chance to do my "own thing", and I feel very grateful to have been able to take that, and build on it in my/our own  way. The "our" is important of course, since without collaborators, technical help, students and especially graduate students, one can do very little in experimental physics or any other experimental science. I have been particularly fortunate in all these aspects.

One of the great possibilities offered by this Wiki form of history, is that all of these collaborators can contribute whatever they want or have time for. I am still very much in contact with one of my two first graduate students, George J. Thomas, and the other David J. Ball, can be found via a simple Google searches. Both have had distinguished careers in the US National Laboratory system, and as a Professor/Consultant on Risk Management in the UK respectively.  My long-term technician, Chris Harland, who subequently got a PhD himself, and after spells in Industry, became Reader in Electronics at Sussex.

I look forward to possibly remaking contact with several other former co-workers via this celebration of Sussex@50. If any of you wish to elaborate on my account here, that will be wonderful.  I am not planning to transfer the group publication list to this site, since there is already a complete list on my Arizona State University site [2]. 

References

1. Members of the Metal Physics group were much in demand worldwide at the time, and produced the "Bible", Electron Microscopy of Thin Crystals (Butterworths, London, 1965) following a succesful summer school in July 1963. The authors, P. B. Hirsch FRS, A. Howie, R.B Nicholson, D.W. Pashley and M.J. Whelan, all be came very well known for a whole "School" of Electron Microscopy that spread round the world. The authors went on to lead groups in Oxford (Professor Sir Peter Hirsch and Professor Mike Whelan, FRS),  Cambridge (Professor Archie Howie, CBE, FRS), Imperial College (Professor Don Pashley, FRS). Sir Robin Nicholson FRS, FREng was Chief Scientific Advisor, Cabinet Office from 1983-1985 during a long career in Industry and Academia.

2. Since 1985 I have been a Professor at Arizona State University in the Physics Department on a part-time basis. There I maintain a home page, which contains all my professional details, including teaching, research, publcations and short-form CV.

Appendix: Group Members

This list includes all categories of colleagues in historical order, and is not at present anywhere near complete.

The abreviations are: Faculty associated with the group, even if loosly (F), Graduate Student (GS); Research Fellow (RF), Technical Staff (TS), Visiting Researcher (VR), Visiting and Exchange Student (VE), Project Student (PS), typically for a final year project.

Graduation dates and Thesis titles for Physics D.Phil and M. Phil is given in the list on this site.

There is no detail on the source of funding for anyone person or project, since this typically changed with time.