RMS Saddened to learn of death of Sir Peter Hirsch, Hon FRMS

The RMS is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Honorary Fellow Sir Peter Hirsch, at the age of 100.

Sir Peter was a world-renowned and hugely influential figure in the field of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), establishing the technique as a key tool in materials science.

Following his PhD at Cambridge, he pioneered both the application of TEM to metals and the theory required to interpret the images. Sir Peter was elected an honorary fellow of Christ’s College Cambridge in 1978, after which he moved to Oxford to take up the Isaac Wolfson Chair in Metallurgy, which he held until his retirement in 1992. Throughout this time he built up the Department of Metallurgy (now the Department of Materials) into a world-renowned centre.

Sir Peter received many awards and honours throughout his distinguished career. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1963 and knighted in 1975. He received the RMS Honorary Fellowship in 1977 and was awarded the Wolf Foundation Prize in physics in 1983.

In 2021, the RMS was honoured to feature an interview with Sir Peter as part of the Society’s International Microscopy Lecture Series. 

We would like to express our sincere condolences to Peter's family and friends.