The Evolution of Electron Microscopy: From Virus Resolution to Atomic Detail

Biological structures exist across a vast range of scales.

Observing molecules at this smaller scale allows us to untangle the finer mechanisms of life: how individual neurons connect and communicate, how the ribosomal machinery translates genetic code.

In a little over a century, the electron microscope evolved from a tool barely capable of resolving virus particles into one able to capture atomic detail.

At one end are whole organisms, varying in size from bacteria only a few micrometers across to mammals measured in feet.

At the smaller end, however, are atoms, amino acids, and proteins, spanning angstroms to nanometers in size.