Biology, geology, physics, medicine, material science, etcetera—in almost every branch of science microscopes play a major role in a scientist’s daily work. A large number of areas make use of different types of microscopes and related technology: from X-ray microscopy, optical microscopy, scanning probe microscopy to scanning acoustic microscopy.
Among these different techniques, electron microscopy is one of the most widely applied methods since it provides impressively high magnification and, at the same time, a relatively high throughput. It is with an exploratory sense of curiosity that scientists from an earlier generation wondered about the micro-cosmos: the tiniest particles of the world, cells—the smallest units of life—and all the accompanying minute items inaccessible to the naked eye. Eventually, with the invention of light microscopy, scholars started exploring the world from a different resolution level. Hundreds of years afterward, researchers cannot imagine doing their job without devices that magnify objects many hundred and even many thousands of times.
