PHILIP E. BATSON.

YORKTOWN Heights (N.Y.); NEW York (N.Y.); UNITED States

Describes the work of Philip E. Batson, who demonstrated an electron microscope that can see objects smaller than an atom. Astronomers measure instabilities in the atmosphere and in the telescope itself, then use computers to manipulate the lenses, correcting for the distortions. Such adaptive optics have now been applied to a complex set of 40-odd magnetic corrective lenses in an electron microscope, allowing researchers to resolve features smaller than an angstrom, about the diameter of a hydrogen atom. Philip Batson, along with non-IBM scientists Ondrej Krivanek and Niklas Dellby, reported in the August 8, 2002, "Nature," that the instrument leads to a qualitatively new understanding of the atomic-level behavior of nanometer-scale objects. These improvements in electron microscopy will allow routine observation of single-atom behavior within a bulk material.