REID
ALWAYS CURIOUS about how things work and what is inside them, Walton Reid said that from childhood he has been 'investigating internal structures'. He would get very few toys from his parents because he always found a way to break open his brand new toy soon after receiving it, thereby, ruining the toy!
This may have been an early indication that Mr. Reid would gravitate to electron microscopy - a branch of science that reveals the microstructure of substances, thus helping to explain how they work, their properties and uses.
Mr. Reid majored in Materials Science at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona and, using microscopes extensively, developed a ceramic from the bauxite waste called "red mud" as a part of the requirement for his Master of Philosophy degree. Seeing first-hand the power of the electron microscope, Mr. Reid was instrumental in reactivating the Electron Microscopy (EM) Unit of the UWI in 1991. As an engineer, he continues to encourage the maintenance of electron microscopy in Jamaica.
In this respect Mr. Reid collaborates with a wide range of researchers, using electron microscopy to assist in solving such problems as human diseases, insect pests, failure of factory machinery and in understanding how rare animal species survive in the harsh Antarctic environment, collecting some of these animals in Antarctica himself!
As an advocate of information dissemination, Mr. Reid exposes many Jamaicans to microscopy in general and to electron microscopy in particular. Students from the Preparatory School level to postgraduates at Tertiary institutions, as well as local and foreign visitors and fellow employees, continue to be sensitised to the intricacies and uses of electron microscopy as a part of the EM Unit's goal for electron microscopy to expand and flourish in Jamaica.
