In 1983 a committee of prominent South African scientists, representing the South African Institute of Physics and the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa, investigated the need for an advanced electron microscope facility in South Africa and identified a serious shortage in scientists skilled in the interpretation of advanced electron microscopy results. It was concluded that unless this problem was rectified, technological and academic developments in South Africa would be significantly hampered. Almost three decades later, on 11 October 2011, the first Centre for High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) was launched at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in Port Elizabeth. ... Click here to download the article.