Gatan Honors the Life of Dr. Reza Alani

September 19, 2005

On September 19, Gatan was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Reza Alani. An employee of Gatan since May of 1986, Reza was immensely respected by Gatan and the Microscopy community as a whole.

Reza was born in 1949 in Tehran, Iran and lived there until he graduated from college. Reza obtained his Ph.D. at the University of London, Imperial College in 1978. He helped develop the TEM environmental cell and made the first in situ HVEM observations of stress corrosion crack nucleation and growth in high strength aluminum alloys. He loved the challenge of making TEM specimens of difficult materials and astonished his colleagues with his "impossible" TEM micrographs of cross sections through the surface of galvanized steel.

Reza contributed greatly to the success story of Gatan's Specimen Preparation and TEM Holder product lines. A true expert in the field, Reza authored nearly 100 articles on various topics in Materials Science. There are 4 patents which exist under his name.

Above all else, Reza was a real gentleman and a true professional in everything he did. He is survived by his wife and two sons. Reza will be sadly missed by his family, colleagues at Gatan, and his many friends in the scientific world.