SCANNING ELECTRON MICROGRAPHS

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By an interesting twist of fate, a significant portion of my job as a graduate student involves producing images. These greyscale images, however, were not captured in the same way a conventional camera captures a photograph. In fact, these images are not “photographs” at all since that would imply the use of photons—particles of light. These micrographs (that’s what they’re called) were produced with electrons as opposed to photons. Electrons, as they are much smaller than photons, allow us to peer into worlds so small and so intricate that our eyes, nor the eyes of any creature on Earth, were evolved to see.