Microscopes are one of the researcher’s most indispensable tools. More research labs contain microscopes than any other single research instrument. As pervasive as these instruments have become, the technology surrounding them continues to accelerate as the resolution of these devices reaches into the atomic level. And while visualization of the microscopic details of samples was the primary goal in the past, determination of the chemical identity of those details is now an essential component as well.
The readers of R&D Magazine were recently surveyed by R&D’s editors to determine the requirements of researchers using microscopy equipment. The results of that study are summarized in the attached charts. More than 300 scientists and engineers responded to this survey, which was performed electronically in early June 2008.
Due to the graphs in this article, a PDF has been made available for download.
