Albert Prebus (1913-1997) was professor of electrical engineering at Ohio State.
In 1938 while a graduate student at the University of Toronto, Prebus along with fellow graduate student James Hillier, constructed the first electron microscope in North America. In 1940, he came to Ohio State as a post-doctoral fellow and built the first functioning electron microscope in the United States making several improvements from his original design.
A true multi-disciplinarian, he shared his knowledge and the electron microscope with university colleagues across campus including faculty from medicine, chemistry and engineering. His research allowed laboratories to examine the properties of different materials and lab samples at very small scales and was fundamental to understanding human physiology and to the development of drugs to address disease.
Prebus was a founding and charter member of the Electron Microscope Society of America, now known as the Microscopy Society of America.