Albert Crewe
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Albert Victor Crewe (February 18, 1927 – November 18, 2009) was a British-born American
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
and inventor of the modern
scanning transmission electron microscope A scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) is a type of transmission electron microscope (TEM). Pronunciation is tÉ›mor ›sti:i:É›m As with a conventional transmission electron microscope (CTEM), images are formed by electrons passin ...
capable of taking still and motion pictures of atoms, a technology that provided new insights into atomic interaction and enabled significant advances in and had wide-reaching implications for the biomedical,
semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...
, and computing industries.


Early life and education

Crewe was born in
Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, in 1927 and grew up during World War II in a blue collar community still recovering from the worldwide depression. The family was poor and expectations were limited. He had average grades in school but passed two nationwide examinations, the first of which enabled him to become the first in his family to attend high school and the second of which allowed him to attend college. He attended Carlton Grammar School, in the south-east of Bradford, since 1977 called Carlton Bolling College. He won a military scholarship to the
University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
to pursue an undergraduate degree in
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
, which he received in 1947. He received a first class degree with high honors, which allowed him a scholarship to continue on at Liverpool for his Ph.D. At the age of 24 he was hired by the university as an instructor in physics and received his degree one year later, in 1951.


Synchrocyclotron research

At the University of Liverpool, Crewe worked with Professor Skinner, the Lyon Jones Chair of Physics. Skinner and his team were in the process of building a synchrocyclotron accelerator and wanted to improve on existing technology by extracting the circulating beam to produce an external one, a feat which had never been accomplished. Skinner gave Crewe the responsibility for extracting the beam and he proved successful, using an innovative peeler-regenerator system. A few years later a team of physicists from the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, sent by
Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project ...
, went to Liverpool for help in solving a similar problem with the Chicago synchrocyclotron. That visit led to an invitation for Crewe to go to the University of Chicago as a visiting research associate in 1955. A year later, after he and a theoretical physicist succeeded in getting the cyclotron to work, the University of Chicago hired Crewe as an assistant professor. In 1958 Crewe moved to the
Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Lemont, Illinois, Lemont, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1946, the laboratory is owned by the United Sta ...
, in DuPage County,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
. One of the U.S. government's oldest and largest science and engineering research laboratories, Argonne is managed for the
U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear we ...
by the University of Chicago. After the war, Argonne was given the mission of developing nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes. A large accelerator was being planned at Argonne, and Crewe was part of a team recruited to make sure that the machine would be state of the art. After Congress approved the machine Crewe was made director of the
Particle Accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams. Small accelerators are used for fundamental ...
Division at Argonne. When
Norman Hilberry Norman Hilberry (March 11, 1899 – March 28, 1986) was an American physicist, best known as the director of the Argonne National Laboratory from 1956 to 1961. In December 1942 he was the man who stood ready with an axe to cut the scram line durin ...
, the director of Argonne, retired in 1961, Crewe was asked to become the third director of the 5000 employee facility.


Electron microscopy

While at Argonne Crewe became interested in electron microscopy, an interest stimulated by the major biology program there. Crewe saw ways in which it would be possible to improve the images important to that work. He came up with a design for a scanning electron microscope and set up a group at Argonne to build it, getting it to function in 1963. This work became so interesting to Crewe that in 1967 he decided to leave Argonne and return to the university's physics faculty, which had granted him a full professorship in 1963. In 1964 Crewe developed the first field emission electron gun in collaboration with Hitachi, a new type of electron source that enabled much higher optical quality than had previously been possible. This gun, combined with inventions in electron lenses and detection, led to the development of the highest resolution microscope at that time. In 1970 his field emission
scanning transmission electron microscope A scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) is a type of transmission electron microscope (TEM). Pronunciation is tÉ›mor ›sti:i:É›m As with a conventional transmission electron microscope (CTEM), images are formed by electrons passin ...
succeeded in taking images individual atom (though not the first, this achievement usually being credited to Erwin Muller). In 1975 he was successful in obtaining the first motion pictures of atoms, providing new insight into atomic interaction and material formation. There followed, during the 1980s, a series of important refining techniques. In 1980 he invented a method for the correction of spherical aberration in electron optical systems using sextupoles and, in 1996, Crewe invented a new type of focusing lens for low voltage scanning microscopes. He held 19 patents for his inventions, and had more than 275 publications, most of them concerned with electron optics and electron microscopes. Beginning in the 1970s and continuing to the present day commercial electron microscopes were developed based on Crewe's innovations. These systems enabled significant advances in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor industries. Hitachi Corporation produced the first successful commercial version of the field emission scanning electron microscope in 1970 which received an IEEE Milestone award in 2012. Crewe was a consultant to Hitachi in this effort. Since that time Hitachi has produced over 5300 cold field emission
scanning electron microscope A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a type of electron microscope that produces images of a sample by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons. The electrons interact with atoms in the sample, producing various signals that ...
s and over 4000 (Schottky) thermal field emission scanning electron microscopes. They are considered the highest resolution instruments available and cost over one million USD each to build. Today there are over 5000 field emission microscopes operational in semiconductor fabrication facilities worldwide, enabling companies like Intel and IBM to produce the latest and fastest microprocessors. Crewe served as Dean of Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago from 1971 to 1981. In 1977 was named the William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor, and from 2002 he was the Wrather Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus. He continued to explore new methods of obtaining high resolution, and in 2003 developed a low voltage electron microscope using a dipole permanent magnet as a lens.


Honors

Crewe's distinguished scientific career and his contribution to the use of technologies for wider applications have been recognized by numerous awards. The Chicago Citizenship Council nominated him Outstanding New Citizen in 1962, and in the same year he received the Immigrants Service League's Annual Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Science, and was named Chicago Man of the Year in Science. He won the Man of the Year Award for Industrial Research in 1970 and was awarded the Albert A. Michelson Medal from the
Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and a center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and wikt:statesman, statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin ...
in 1977 and the Distinguished Service Award of the Electron Microscope Society of America in 1976. He became a member of the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
in 1972. In 1979 he received the Ernst Abbe Award of the New York Microscope society. In the U.K. he received the Duddell Medal of the
Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...
in 1980 and he held honorary fellowships in America, Great Britain, and China, as well as honorary degrees from several universities in America as well as from the University of Liverpool.


References


External links


National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crewe, Albert 1927 births 2009 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American physicists University of Chicago faculty English emigrants to the United States Scientists from Bradford Alumni of the University of Liverpool