Nion Company was established in 1997 by Ondrej Krivanek and Niklas Dellby in Washington State, USA, with the goal of researching, designing, and manufacturing high-end electron-optical instruments and other products. Nion's first project was designing and building a spherical aberration corrector for a VG scanning transmission electron microscope. It was a research project initiated by Dr. P.E. Batson and sponsored by IBM. The corrector was of a second-generation design, improved in several key aspects relative to a first-generation proof-of-principle Cs corrector designed and built between 1995 and 1997 by Niklas and Ondrej at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
George Corbin joined the company a few months after it was started, and several key personnel have come on board since: Peter Nellist, Neil Bacon, Matt Murfitt, Zoltan Szilagyi and James Woodruff.
Nion is located in Kirkland on the eastern shore of Lake Washington, in Washington State, USA. Seattle with its many restaurants and cosmopolitan atmosphere is 15 miles to the West, the
Cascade Mountains with excellent hiking and skiing start just 25 miles to the East. Other major attractions in the area are Puget Sound with its many islands and regular ferries linking them, Olympic Peninsula with a temperate rain-forest, Pacific Coast with its wild and deserted beaches, and Mount Rainier (4392 m) with its classic lodges and excellent hiking.
The Seattle Area is prized for its temperate climate, recently made drier by global climate changes, rich cultural life, easily accessible outdoors, good national and international access from the Seattle-Tacoma airport, and surprisingly affordable housing.
Nion people
Neil Bacon, Research Physicist.
Neil joined Nion in 2001 after obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He also has an undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge in the UK and a Masters degree from University College, Cork, Ireland. During his Ph.D. studies, he built an apparatus for levitating ice crystals and published several articles on ice crystal microphysics. In his spare time he enjoys playing the violin, cycling, and soccer. He is married and has two sons.
George Corbin, Mechanical Designer and Facilities Manager. George joined Nion after graduating from Seattle's ITT Technical Institute, where he specialized in drafting and mechanical design. His initials, GJC, are found on many of the drawings that Nion sends off to production. He enjoys married life, his two cockatiels and playing outdoors, particularly flying kites and snowboarding.
Niklas Dellby, Chief Scientist and Company Secretary. Niklas is a co-founder of Nion. He has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from MIT and Masters in Electrical Engineering jointly from Stanford University and the Linkoping Institute of Technology in Sweden. While at MIT, he consulted for Gatan and has designed the electronics for a number of Gatan products. He enjoys boating (in the summer, he commutes to work by boat and bicycle), brewing beer and reading the New York Times. He is married and has 2 sons.
Ondrej Krivanek, Company President. Ondrej is a co-founder of Nion. He has a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cambridge in the UK. His efforts in developing instrumentation for electron microscopy have earned him several prizes, such as the Duddell Medal from the British Institute of Physics. For recreation he enjoys hiking, skiing, swimming and bicycling, listening to Terry Gross interviews and spending time with his daughters.
Matt Murfitt. Matt arrived at Nion in 2001, after completing his Masters degree at the University of Cambridge in the UK, where he also designed software for the Physics department. When he's not working, Matt enjoys reading, watching The Simpsons and occasionally hiking up hills in order to sit down at the top.
Peter Nellist, Head of Software and Analysis. Peter joined Nion in 2000, after several years in academia. He has a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cambridge in the UK. He is well known for his key papers on STEM super-resolution, high-angle annular dark-field imaging, and applications of 300 kV STEM. In Cambridge he was a founding member of the Hill Walking Club, and now has a wider choice of nearby hills to hike on than ever before. He and his wife also enjoy reading the Guardian Weekly, cross-country skiing and traveling.
Zoltan Szilagyi.
Zoltan joined Nion in 2001. He has a Ph.D. in experimental atomic physics from the University of Paris (south) in France. He also spent several years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Queen's University in Belfast in the UK. Zoltan speaks and writes four languages fluently (Rumanian, Hungarian, French and English). For recreation, he enjoys traveling and hiking.
Janet Willis, Office Manager.
Janet joined Nion in 2001. She has a BA in Psychology from UCLA, and a comprehensive background in the high tech field where she has worked in finance and administration as well as in design and production of children's educational software (e.g. the Magic School Bus series). She is married and has two teenage children. In her spare time she enjoys reading, gardening and long walks with her German Shepherd, Riley.
James Woodruff, Electronics Technician.
James joined Nion in 2003 as an electronics technician.