Introduction
Sir Charles William Oatley OBE, FRS FREng (14 February 1904 – 11 March 1996) was Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Cambridge, 1960–1971, and developer of one of the first commercial scanning electron microscopes. He was also a founder member of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Biography
He was born on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1904.
He was educated at Bedford Modern School and St. John's College, Cambridge. He was a director of the English Electric Valve Company from 1966 to 1985.
In 1969 he was elected to the Royal Society.
Oatley also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1974. In that same year, he was knighted.
He received an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) from the University of Bath in 1977. He retired from the English Electric Valve Company in 1985.
He was awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal in 1989. He died on 11 March 1996.
Graduate students
Oatley and the graduate students he supervised made substantial contributions, particularly to the development of the scanning electron microscope (SEM).
"A project for a Ph.D. student must provide him with good training and, if he is doing experimental work, there is much to be said for choosing a problem which involves the construction or modification of some fairly complicated apparatus. I have always felt that university research in engineering should be adventurous and should not mind tackling speculative projects.":12
His students included:
- Thomas Everhart former President of Caltech
- Alec Broers former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, former president of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
- Haroon Ahmed former Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and Professor of Microelectronics
- Hawkes, Peter W. (2004). Advances in imaging and electron physics: Volume 133, Sir Charles Oatley and the Scanning Electron Microscope (1st ed.). Oxford: Elsevier Academic Press. ISBN 978-0123859853.
- ^ Rodenburg, J.M. (1997). Electron microscopy and analysis 1997 : proceedings of the Institute of Physics Electron Microscopy and Analysis Group conference, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 2-5 September 1997. Bristol: Institute of Physics Pub. pp. 11–16. ISBN 978-0750304412. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
- Ratinac, Kyle R. (2008). "Great moment 9: Scanning electron microscopy". In Ratinac, Kyle R. 50 great moments : celebrating the golden jubilee of the University of Sydney's Electron Microscope Unit. University of Sydney, N.S.W.: Sydney University Press. pp. 71–81. ISBN 9781920898762. Retrieved 19 June 2015.