Abstract :
This paper is a historical review with two aims. It records some lighthearted personal recollections of early days in the development of field-ion microscopy in Cambridge University in the early 1960s. And it presents a short systematic account of the results and theoretical ideas about field-ion image formation that emerged from this period. Experimental results are included that, although discussed informally or presented to scientific meetings in the 1960s and 1970s, have not previously been published. The theory emphasised gas-kinetic aspects of image formation, and much of it has survived the test of time. Some relevant recent work is noted
