Hillier, James

Hillier, James (1915–  ) physicist, inventor; born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Son of a mechanical engineer, he began developing the electron microscope with a graduate student colleague at the University of Toronto in 1937. He emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1940 and shortly thereafter designed the first practical electron microscope. This soon became an essential tool in scientific and medical research. He took U.S. citizenship in 1945. From 1942 on he held senior research posts at RCA and was executive vice-president and senior scientist at RCA Labs when he retired in 1978.