World’s Most Powerful Microscope Begins Peeping into the Unknown

A newly installed seven ton microscope unveiled at the University of Victoria takes the title of the world’s most powerful microscope from its American counterpart. The one of its kind Scanning Transmission Electron Holography Microscope (STEHM) has a resolution of 35 picometers, more powerful than the microscope at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with a resolution of 49 picometers. The 4.5 meter tall microscope by Hitachi was painstakingly assembled by a team of specialists, spending one whole year installing it at the Bob Wright Center.

The microscope gives researchers a magnification that was never possible before, opening up new possibilities. It comes with complete analytical capabilities that can help determine the number of elements, along with high-resolution and high-speed cameras for collecting data. The director of UVic’s Advanced Microscopy Facility, Rodney Herring announced that STEHM is open to researchers’ outside of UVic. There is already a huge waiting list with both local scientists and businesses waiting to a better peek into their samples.