Hillier, James (1915–2007)

Canadian-born US physicist and inventor. He began developing the electron microscope with a graduate student colleague at the University of Toronto in 1937, and designed the first practical electron microscope in 1938. This soon became an essential tool in scientific and medical research.

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 1977.

The son of a mechanical engineer, Hillier was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and emigrated to the USA in 1940. He became a US citizen in 1945.