One Man's Tiny Vision

Robert Holzrichter built his own optical microscope when he was 11. Fifty-five years later, the now-retired engineer has moved on to smaller things. His homemade transmission electron microscope – the product of more than 10 years of work and $10,000 – uses a 50,000-volt electron beam to resolve features as small as 2.5 nanometers. “I’ve […]

Robert Holzrichter built his own optical microscope when he was 11. Fifty-five years later, the now-retired engineer has moved on to smaller things. His homemade transmission electron microscope - the product of more than 10 years of work and $10,000 - uses a 50,000-volt electron beam to resolve features as small as 2.5 nanometers. "I've gotten quite a shock a few times," Holzrichter says. He's wanted to build a TEM since 1965, when he read a book on electron microscopy by optics pioneer-Vladimir Zworykin. In 1995, he came across the book again. "I thought, Is this fateful? Is this what I'm supposed to do?" So he started lathing parts. The scope isn't perfect yet - he wants better resolution. "If it were easy," he says, "I wouldn't have wanted to do it."

- Tom Marcinko


Robert Holzrichter
credit Jimmy Fishbein

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