Microscopy, 2014, 175–176 doi: 10.1093/jmicro/dfu018
Obituary Gareth Thomas (9 August 1932–6 February 2014) literature: Gareth’s response, reportedly, was that ‘we do not need to read the literature, we write it’. Of course, Gareth did both, but it was a memorable comment consistent with his character. With the advent of ion-milling for preparation of nonconductive samples, Gareth also made major contributions to structure–property relationships in ceramics. He was then highly active in the relevant professional societies: The Metallurgical Society of AIME, the American Ceramic Society, The Electron Microscopy Society of America (for which he served as President in 1975) and the International Federation for Societies of Electron Microscopy in which he was a Board member and later President for a total of over 20 years. Among numerous recognitions Gareth was elected to membership of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. I believe that it is fair to say that one of Gareth’s most important, long-lasting legacies is the creation of the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). As the field of highresolution electron microscopy was emerging in the 1970s, Gareth realized both its potential and the need for a much more highly equipped laboratory than could exist at a US research university. By taking advantage of the expertise and experience at LBNL combined with the scientific support of the community and the funding interest of the US Department of Energy, Gareth was the driving force behind NCEM’s establishment and was its first Scientific Director from 1983 to 1989. The first wave of microscopes utilized high voltage to achieve sub-atomic resolution, and now NCEM has evolved under the direction of Uli Dahmen to employ aberration-corrected, medium voltage instruments with sub-Ångstrom resolution. On a personal level, Gareth was an avid sportsman. One of his fondest stories was of emerging onto the playing field at Cardiff Arms Park (the spiritual home of Welsh rugby) representing the London Welsh Rugby Football team.
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]
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Downloaded from http://jmicro.oxfordjournals.org/ at The University of British Colombia Library on November 15, 2015
Professor Gareth Thomas, one of the most pre-eminent electron microscopists of the second half of the twentieth century, passed away peacefully in the Netherlands on 6 February 2014. He was 81 years of age. His huge influence on scores of former students, postdocs, visiting scientists and international colleagues, and on the field itself, will be sorely missed. Gareth was born and brought up in Wales, one of the constituent countries of the UK. He obtained a first class honors degree in metallurgy at the University of Wales, Cardiff and moved to Cambridge University for his Ph.D. under the prominent metallurgist Jack Nutting. At that time (the mid-1950s) Cambridge was a hub of activity in the rapidly emerging field of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of metals, assisted by gradual improvements in microscope performance and by the perfection of specimen preparation by electropolishing. Gareth saw the opportunity to carry out some of the first studies on precipitation hardening of aluminum alloys in parallel with the work being done by Hirsch, Howie and others on dislocations and defect contrast in TEM images. Following his Ph.D. and postdoctoral studies, Gareth moved to a faculty position in the Department now known as Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. In short order, he became arguably the most prominent researcher on the application of TEM to study the structure–property relationships in practical alloys such as steels, not only in the USA but internationally. His influence on TEM research in the USA was immense in several ways: the standard of his group’s work was always excellent, his first text on Transmission Electron Microscopy of Metals was widely read and his insistence at conferences and workshops that only the correct TEM experiments be done properly was both well known and respected. More than one speaker felt a degree of trepidation if Gareth was in the audience! One of the many Gareth Thomas stories concerned a questioner who asked Gareth if he had read his
176
Professor Thomas (left) at the Atomic Resolution Microscope (ARM) in discussion with Dr. Crispin Hetherington (center) and Professor Hatsujiro Hashimoto (right). Robert Sinclair Stanford University
Downloaded from http://jmicro.oxfordjournals.org/ at The University of British Colombia Library on November 15, 2015
He was purported to be as fierce a competitor on the rugby field as in his professional life. He was also a proud member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) which is the elite cricket institution in the UK. He was a connoisseur of good food and wine, and an invitation to dinner at his home promised a memorable evening. In summary, Gareth Thomas (affectionately known to many as GT following his insistence on his students performing g.b. experiments) was a dominant force in electron microscopy for many years. In his later years he spent time at the University of California, San Diego carrying out research on magnetic materials, and he founded a steel company MMFX based on the patents which had been issued to him and several of his former graduate students. He spent the last years of his life with his wife Annelies in California and in Europe, and passed away following a long illness. He is survived by Annelies Zeeman-Thomas, his son Julian and two grandchildren, and his brother Peter. He was pre-deceased by his first wife, Elizabeth.
Microscopy, 2014, Vol. 63, No. 3
Obituary Gareth Thomas (9 August 1932–6 February 2014) literature: Gareth’s response, reportedly, was that ‘we do not need to read the literature, we write it’. Of course, Gareth did both, but it was a memorable comment consistent with his character. With the advent of ion-milling for preparation of nonconductive samples, Gareth also made major contributions to structure–property relationships in ceramics. He was then highly active in the relevant professional societies: The Metallurgical Society of AIME, the American Ceramic Society, The Electron Microscopy Society of America (for which he served as President in 1975) and the International Federation for Societies of Electron Microscopy in which he was a Board member and later President for a total of over 20 years. Among numerous recognitions Gareth was elected to membership of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. I believe that it is fair to say that one of Gareth’s most important, long-lasting legacies is the creation of the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). As the field of highresolution electron microscopy was emerging in the 1970s, Gareth realized both its potential and the need for a much more highly equipped laboratory than could exist at a US research university. By taking advantage of the expertise and experience at LBNL combined with the scientific support of the community and the funding interest of the US Department of Energy, Gareth was the driving force behind NCEM’s establishment and was its first Scientific Director from 1983 to 1989. The first wave of microscopes utilized high voltage to achieve sub-atomic resolution, and now NCEM has evolved under the direction of Uli Dahmen to employ aberration-corrected, medium voltage instruments with sub-Ångstrom resolution. On a personal level, Gareth was an avid sportsman. One of his fondest stories was of emerging onto the playing field at Cardiff Arms Park (the spiritual home of Welsh rugby) representing the London Welsh Rugby Football team.
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]
175
Downloaded from http://jmicro.oxfordjournals.org/ at The University of British Colombia Library on November 15, 2015
Professor Gareth Thomas, one of the most pre-eminent electron microscopists of the second half of the twentieth century, passed away peacefully in the Netherlands on 6 February 2014. He was 81 years of age. His huge influence on scores of former students, postdocs, visiting scientists and international colleagues, and on the field itself, will be sorely missed. Gareth was born and brought up in Wales, one of the constituent countries of the UK. He obtained a first class honors degree in metallurgy at the University of Wales, Cardiff and moved to Cambridge University for his Ph.D. under the prominent metallurgist Jack Nutting. At that time (the mid-1950s) Cambridge was a hub of activity in the rapidly emerging field of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of metals, assisted by gradual improvements in microscope performance and by the perfection of specimen preparation by electropolishing. Gareth saw the opportunity to carry out some of the first studies on precipitation hardening of aluminum alloys in parallel with the work being done by Hirsch, Howie and others on dislocations and defect contrast in TEM images. Following his Ph.D. and postdoctoral studies, Gareth moved to a faculty position in the Department now known as Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. In short order, he became arguably the most prominent researcher on the application of TEM to study the structure–property relationships in practical alloys such as steels, not only in the USA but internationally. His influence on TEM research in the USA was immense in several ways: the standard of his group’s work was always excellent, his first text on Transmission Electron Microscopy of Metals was widely read and his insistence at conferences and workshops that only the correct TEM experiments be done properly was both well known and respected. More than one speaker felt a degree of trepidation if Gareth was in the audience! One of the many Gareth Thomas stories concerned a questioner who asked Gareth if he had read his
176
Professor Thomas (left) at the Atomic Resolution Microscope (ARM) in discussion with Dr. Crispin Hetherington (center) and Professor Hatsujiro Hashimoto (right). Robert Sinclair Stanford University
Downloaded from http://jmicro.oxfordjournals.org/ at The University of British Colombia Library on November 15, 2015
He was purported to be as fierce a competitor on the rugby field as in his professional life. He was also a proud member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) which is the elite cricket institution in the UK. He was a connoisseur of good food and wine, and an invitation to dinner at his home promised a memorable evening. In summary, Gareth Thomas (affectionately known to many as GT following his insistence on his students performing g.b. experiments) was a dominant force in electron microscopy for many years. In his later years he spent time at the University of California, San Diego carrying out research on magnetic materials, and he founded a steel company MMFX based on the patents which had been issued to him and several of his former graduate students. He spent the last years of his life with his wife Annelies in California and in Europe, and passed away following a long illness. He is survived by Annelies Zeeman-Thomas, his son Julian and two grandchildren, and his brother Peter. He was pre-deceased by his first wife, Elizabeth.
Microscopy, 2014, Vol. 63, No. 3
