Early Electron Microscopy remembered through the candle light of history

Abstract

As nearly as we have been able to ascertain, three very early programs to make a true Electron microscope arose in this hemisphere independently and concurrently. That is to produce instruments with demountable vacuum systems and means for interchanging specimens. Washington University in St. Louis was one of the three. The author is grateful for this opportunity to describe the Washington University work.Washington University was a likely place for a beginning in electron microscopy. In the first quarter of the century it had risen to prominence in many fields especially physics, biology and medicine and close communication existed between them. The physics department had direct lineage from J. J. Thompson and W. H. Bragg and close ties with Chicago and Berkeley. The biology department had strong connections with Woods Hole, while the medical school staff included “people from the four comers of the earth” and it had a close association with the Rockefeller Medical Institute.