Some of Dehn's creations helped scientists streamline their work or conduct unlikely tests. One creation allowed gas to slowly seep into a compartment to anesthetize a fruit fly. Another was a "mouse milker" -- an arrangement of tiny glass suction cups that pulled milk from a mouse's teats. It was used in a breast cancer experiment. "It works!" an excited lab technician told Dehn shortly after an initial test. "Now I don't have to stand there and get bitten any more."

Today the device is made from plastic, Dehn said.

[Dr. Kenneth] Spring said Dehn broke important ground by creating glass tubes that carry several liquids at once. The liquids are kept separate by tiny interior dividing walls. "Bill Dehn is probably the best glass blower I've ever seen," said Spring. "I've been doing research since 1968; I've seen a lot of glass blowers."

[...] The finest objects, Dehn says, are not just useful. They're pretty.

"To some people, it wouldn't be anything," Dehn says, holding one custom-made piece that had collected dust on an office shelf. "But for people who know science, who know what it's used for, who know how difficult it is to make, they may see the artistic ability in it."