Invisible worlds exist all around us. And UVic biology undergrad James Tyrwhitt-Drake has made it his mission to reveal the smallest of those worlds, with spectacular results. The invisibility of microscopic creatures, much like the perceptual invisibility that comes with the speedy flapping of a hummingbird’s wings, requires special equipment to capture and appreciate. For Tyrwhitt-Drake, that equipment is the scanning electron microscope (SEM) in UVic’s Advanced Microscopy Facility.

The world’s most powerful microscope, which resides in a specially constructed room at the University of Victoria, has now been fully assembled and tested, and has a lineup of scientists and businesses eager to use it.

Small has been really big at UVic ever since the Scanning Transmission Electron Holography Microscope (STEHM)—the most advanced microscope in the world—began its installation in the basement of the Bob Wright Centre in May 2012. But small has been huge for Dr. Rodney Herring, associate professor in mechanical engineering, since he began his career as a research facilitator with the Canada Space Agency years ago.

The University of Victoria is now home to the most powerful microscope ever built. On May 22, the 7-tonne, 4.5-metre tall Scanning Transmission Electron Holography Microscope (STEHM) arrived on campus in 22 pieces. The next day, four large pieces were lowered into a special room in the basement of the Bob Wright Centre, where the microscope is now being assembled.

The University of Victoria is now home to the most powerful microscope ever built.

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A new microscope that views the subatomic universe, being built for UVic by Hitachi High-Technologies to the design of Dr. Rodney Herring (mechanical engineering), is expected to arrive on campus in December. The Scanning Transmission Electron Holography Microscope (STEHM) will use an electron beam and holography techniques to observe materials at a resolution as small as one-fiftieth the size of an atom. It will give researchers in a wide variety of fields an unprecedented look into the subatomic universe.

A new microscope that views the subatomic universe—the first of its kind in the world—is being built for the University of Victoria in collaboration with Hitachi High-Technologies.

What races close to the speed of light in one gigantic circle? No, it’s not Superman, it is trillions of subatomic particles in the biggest science experiment in history. The final pieces of the ATLAS project— a particle detector that will record th…