Sir Charles William Oatley (14 February 1904 – 11 March 1996) was Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Cambridge, 1960–1971, and developer of one of the first commercial scanning electron microscopes.

A plaque has been placed on the house at the junction of Badcox Parade and Catherine Hill.

Oatley and the graduate students he supervised made substantial contributions, particularly to the development of the scanning electron microscope (SEM).

[9][10][11] "A project for a PhD student must provide him with good training and, if he is doing experimental work, there is much to be said for choosing a problem which involves the construction or modification of some fairly complicated apparatus.

I have always felt that university research in engineering should be adventurous and should not mind tackling speculative projects.