The Physics of Specimen Preparation

TL;DRAbstract

In the three decades of its existence, electron microscopy has contributed decisively towards the understanding of biological phenomena and this despite the fact that it is unable to observe the cell in a living state. What is the reason for its undeniable impact on biology? Electron microscopy is the only tool which provides directly an image which complements valuably the important knowledge gained indirectly from biochemistry and structural studies by X-rays and other indirect biophysical methods. This possibility of forming a true image has been and still is most important in achieving mental representations of the biological world at the stmctural level. These mental representations continuously stimulate the formulation of new working hypothesis for new experiments. The successful contributions of electron microscopy covered the range from 100 to 5 nm and more recently, down to 2.5 nm. Many of the most relevant, biological phenomena take place in the range below some 3 nm; this e

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