Fun fact, you can make a basic scope at home. It definitely is not easy but probably not as expensive as you might think (actually not much at all!).
Ben Krasnow (Applied Science) has a few videos and blog posts on the topic[0,1,2]. The Tungsten Filaments can be expensive, but I sent an email to the company and they sent me some samples to play with. It's been years so I forgot who I contacted. I tried the Nalgene bottle method but honestly I could not get it to hold a tight enough vacuum. The electron beam was very unstable and it is just really hard to purge and backfill the "chamber". The hardest part is getting the beam control circuit. I never got that refined myself for clear images, but I'm sure I could have gotten it with more time (it was a DIY work project so other things took priorities[3]). For our purposes the beam mattered more, so we went with what we could get. But even "failing" I learned a lot and it was a ton of fun. It's pretty exciting to get a beam to produce.
And keep in mind, even if you do get it fully running you shouldn't expect it to be anywhere near on par with the professional ones. Machining is great these days and we have a lot of advantages we can leverage as even hobbyists that shops couldn't get even a few decades ago, but we're talking about a high precision machine.
If the idea of having one for fun excites you, then it is worth the go. It was one of the most fun things I've ever made (maybe only next to a sputtering gun, which was very successful). If you can CAD, do some basic electronics, have a lot of patience, and a decent vacuum pump[4], then you should give it a go.
[3] Resources were tight enough that I think I could have done better if I decided to fund it myself. Big thing I would say is that whenever working with vacuum stuff don't take shortcuts. It's better to act like a perfectionist as it'll save you time in the long run. When you're working with tiny things, well... the little things matter lol
[4] I mean a vacuum pump, not a roughing pump. You don't need a turbo, but you do need a high vacuum.
Are there any new developments on the technical side of microscopy such as new materials or techniques? What journals or trade papers are reliable in researching this information?
How does one become a microscopist as a profession? It seems like a specialized field with a narrow entry point and a lot of hoops.
Really nicely-done article. I suppose that if there was any resentment on Ruska's part over losing the patent race to Ruedenberg, it was smoothed over when he (and not Ruedenberg) was awarded the physics Nobel.
It would have been interesting to hear why Ruedenberg wasn't considered for the prize.
Fun fact, you can make a basic scope at home. It definitely is not easy but probably not as expensive as you might think (actually not much at all!).
Ben Krasnow (Applied Science) has a few videos and blog posts on the topic[0,1,2]. The Tungsten Filaments can be expensive, but I sent an email to the company and they sent me some samples to play with. It's been years so I forgot who I contacted. I tried the Nalgene bottle method but honestly I could not get it to hold a tight enough vacuum. The electron beam was very unstable and it is just really hard to purge and backfill the "chamber". The hardest part is getting the beam control circuit. I never got that refined myself for clear images, but I'm sure I could have gotten it with more time (it was a DIY work project so other things took priorities[3]). For our purposes the beam mattered more, so we went with what we could get. But even "failing" I learned a lot and it was a ton of fun. It's pretty exciting to get a beam to produce.
And keep in mind, even if you do get it fully running you shouldn't expect it to be anywhere near on par with the professional ones. Machining is great these days and we have a lot of advantages we can leverage as even hobbyists that shops couldn't get even a few decades ago, but we're talking about a high precision machine.
If the idea of having one for fun excites you, then it is worth the go. It was one of the most fun things I've ever made (maybe only next to a sputtering gun, which was very successful). If you can CAD, do some basic electronics, have a lot of patience, and a decent vacuum pump[4], then you should give it a go.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIJ1jI1xDhY
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdjYVF4a6iU
[2] https://benkrasnow.blogspot.com/2014/04/electron-beam-contro...
[3] Resources were tight enough that I think I could have done better if I decided to fund it myself. Big thing I would say is that whenever working with vacuum stuff don't take shortcuts. It's better to act like a perfectionist as it'll save you time in the long run. When you're working with tiny things, well... the little things matter lol
[4] I mean a vacuum pump, not a roughing pump. You don't need a turbo, but you do need a high vacuum.
I am a cryo-electron microscopist (TEM), will keep an eye on this thread in case there's any specific questions.
(Also have done Xray crystallography)
Are there any new developments on the technical side of microscopy such as new materials or techniques? What journals or trade papers are reliable in researching this information?
How does one become a microscopist as a profession? It seems like a specialized field with a narrow entry point and a lot of hoops.
Mostly used for biological targets, laser induced ultrasound is pretty impressive.
Interesting how they continued manufacturing these during ww2
Really nicely-done article. I suppose that if there was any resentment on Ruska's part over losing the patent race to Ruedenberg, it was smoothed over when he (and not Ruedenberg) was awarded the physics Nobel.
It would have been interesting to hear why Ruedenberg wasn't considered for the prize.