h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Years ago, the science museum in London had a SEM which was available for people to play with.
It poined at a fly and I had great fun for about 20 minuntes playing around, zooming in on the eye, then the hairs between the eyes, then on the scales on the hairs.
When I got up to move on, I found I had attracted a croud of about 25 people who all thought I was doing an official demonstration - they were all quite disappointed when I left!

Grin...

Hmm, this page could probably use a link to A275942 on how to build a scanning tunneling microscope... or the merging of the two, maybe...

Yeah, SEMs are great to play with!

I played with the one at Cardiff University for a while looking at various things. I love the compound eye of insects through one of them, it's amazing.

Ste

"Satrosphere", a technology exhibit here in Aberdeen, have an ancient electron microscope in their basement which bears an uncanny similarity to the rear end of an original 1940s Volkswagen Beetle... It's in a sort of hammerite grey finish, as high as my shoulders, very curved and has many ventilation slats. If I had a bigger flat I might have made them an offer for it...

(The "boot" opens to reveal the vacuum apparatus and objective area, and the output was through a seperate monitor screen. The flat side opposite the "boot" had many valves and switches, as I recall. I haven't seen it for about four years. )

Thanks for that link 26199 I've put it in

Well...

I did edit that one

Can't have it being forgotten about...