Science: Smaller & Smaller

For men's deepest thrust into the infinitesimal, he can thank a microscope that sees things without the help of light. This is the electron microscope. With it, in Camden, N. J., Berlin, London, Toronto and Pasadena last week, scientists studied things 50 times smaller than they could see a decade ago.

With microscopes using visible or ultraviolet light, magnifications of a sort up to 5,000 diameters have been obtained, but the really useful upper limit has hovered around 2,000 diameters. With microscopes using electron beams, useful magnifications have jumped to 100,000 diameters and more. Light is a train of waves; to pick...

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