One-third of all electron microscopes are manufactured in Brno. Photo credit: Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Brno, March 22 (BD) – Medicine, criminology, archeology, material research and the aerospace industry would all struggle to function without electron microscopes. These critically important devices are one of Brno’s major contributions to the world; one-third of all electron microscopes are produced in the city. Running since Monday, 20 March, and continuing until Sunday, this week’s Days of Electron Microscopy events help the public get acquainted with the colourful microscopic world.
This year, the event will focus on the invisible heroes that occur all around us, and are even inside our bodies. Whether saving the planet, protecting our immunity, or surviving in extreme conditions, many of the most important particles on Earth could not be seen without an electron microscope.
This year’s program includes lectures, workshops, exhibitions and excursions to normally inaccessible laboratories. There will also be competitions and activities for families with children.
On Thursday, English amateur arachnologist and electron microscope enthusiast Jeremy Poole will deliver a lecture on how microscopes, spiders and tardigrades are related. An exhibition of his photographs is also on display during the whole week on Moravské náměstí.
On 24 and 25 March, the doors of Brno’s technology companies will open to the public and a lecture on tardigrades for children will be held on 25 March. An inflated nanostructure will be installed on Moravské náměstí, and the Vaňkovka Gallery will host an exhibition of photographs taken with electron microscopes. Other partners, such as Vida!, Ceitec, the Brno Technical Museum and the Institute of Instrumentation Technology at the Czech Academy of Sciences have also prepared their own accompanying programs.
The symbol of this year’s Electron Microscopy Days is the giant model of a tardigrade. In the real world, this creature is no bigger than a poppy grain and can be overlooked easily. But with its ability to withstand boiling water, cold and vacuum in space, radioactive radiation and toxic gases, this crumb resembles a comic book superhero.
More information about this week’s events is available here.