Researched
Electron microscope
Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska built the first electron lens in 1931 and a two-stage electron microscope in 1933 that out-resolved light microscopes.
Open in the interactive tree →Electrons behave as waves much shorter than visible light, so the instrument can show far finer structures; Ruska received half of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for it. It later imaged viruses, nerve-cell wiring and, with frozen samples, single molecules.
Prerequisites
Unlocks
- Worm connectome1986The worm wiring diagram was traced from electron micrographs
- Cryo-EM Resolution Revolution2017Cryo-EM images frozen molecules with the electron microscope
- Brain wiring maps2024Whole-brain maps are built from automated electron microscopy