Peter Nellist facts for kids

Peter David Nellist is a British scientist. He is a physicist and a materials scientist. He works as a professor at the University of Oxford in the Department of Materials. Professor Nellist is well-known for creating new ways to use high-resolution electron microscopes. These special microscopes help us see tiny things up close.

Early Life and Education

Peter Nellist studied at St John's College, Cambridge. He earned his first degree in 1991. He then completed his Master's degree in 1995 and his Ph.D. in 1996. During his studies, he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory with a scientist named John Rodenburg.

After finishing his studies, Professor Nellist moved to Tennessee in the United States. He did research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). There, he worked with another scientist, Stephen Pennycook, who also came from Cambridge.

Career Journey

After about a year and a half, Professor Nellist returned to Cambridge. He received a special research fellowship from the Royal Society. Later, he moved this fellowship to the University of Birmingham.

For four years, he took a break from university work. He went to work for a company called Nion in Seattle. This company was started by Ondrej Krivanek, another expert in microscopy from Cambridge.

Eventually, Professor Nellist returned to academic life. He worked at Trinity College Dublin before joining the University of Oxford. In 2019, he became a Joint Head of the Department of Materials at Oxford.

Amazing Scientific Discoveries

Professor Nellist's research focuses on a special type of microscope called scanning transmission electron microscopy. This microscope helps scientists study materials in great detail.

He is famous for his work on something called electron ptychography. This is a new way to create very clear images using electrons. He also works on understanding microscope images better. He helps develop special lenses for electron microscopes. He calls these lenses "like spectacles for a microscope" because they help the microscope see more clearly.

Awards and Recognitions

In the mid-1990s, while working with John Rodenburg, Professor Nellist helped invent new ways to make microscopes see even smaller things. This improved both scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes.

In 1998, he worked with Stephen Pennycook. Together, they captured the clearest images ever seen of crystal structures. Six years later, in 2004, Professor Nellist and his team at ORNL made history. They took the first pictures of individual atoms inside a crystal. They did this by using a new method to fix problems with the microscope's lenses.

Professor Nellist has received many important awards for his work.

• In 2007, he won the Burton Medal for his great contributions to microscopy.
• In 2013, he received the Ernst Ruska Prize for developing confocal electron microscopy.
• He also won the Birks Award in 2013.
• In 2016 and 2020, he won prizes from the European Microscopy Society for the best published paper in materials science.

In 2020, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK. He is also the vice-president of the Royal Microscopical Society. He was made an Honorary Fellow of this society in 2020. He is also a board member of the European Microscopy Society.