Ruska was born in Heidelberg, Germany, on December 25, 1906. He wasthe fifth child of Julius Ferdinand Ruska, an Asian studies professor, and Elisabeth (Merx) Ruska. After receiving his undergraduate educationin the physical sciences from the Technical University of Munich and theTechnical University of Berlin, he was certified as an electricalengineer in 1931. He then went on to study under Max Knoll at Berlin, and received his doctorate in electrical engineering in 1933. During thisperiod he and Knoll created an early version of the electron microscope,and Ruska concurrently was employed by the Fernseh Corporation in Berlin,where he worked to develop television tube technology. He left Fernseh tojoin Siemens as an electrical engineer, and at the same time accepted aposition as a lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin.

His ability to work in both academic and corporate milieus continued through his time at Siemens, and expanded when in 1954 he became...