Eli Franklin Burton


Burton, Eli Franklin
Eli Franklin Burton, physicist (b at Green R, Ont 14 Feb 1879; d at Toronto 6 July 1948). Educated at U of T and Cambridge, Burton spent his whole career at U of T, succeeding J.C. McLennan as head of the physics department in 1932. He was a council member of the NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 1937-46 and served on the board of Research Enterprises Ltd, the secret wartime radar factory. His most notable achievement was building the first electron microscope in N America, with Cecil Hall, James Hillier and A.F. Prebus at Toronto in the late 1930s. Hillier and Prebus went on to scientific careers in the US, where the electron microscope was manufactured by RCA Ltd.
Electron Microscope
Electron Microscope
Postage stamp commemorating the building of the first electron microscope by Eli Burton, Cecil Hall, James Hillier and A.F. Prebus at Toronto, 1938 (courtesy Canada Post Corp).

Author DONALD J.C. PHILLIPSON

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