FLORENCE AND THE GALILEO MUSEUM

OUR MATERIALS APPLICATIONS SCIENTIST, BARNABY LEVIN, DESCRIBES A HIGHLIGHT FROM HIS TRIP TO ITALY IN JANUARY

In January 2020, I had the privilege of representing Direct Electron at the Gordon Research Conference for Liquid Phase Electron Microscopy, which was held at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco in Italy. After the conference, I spent a week travelling to visit some of our customers in Germany and the UK.
In between the conference and my customer visits, I had a free weekend to do some sightseeing, and I chose to spend that weekend in the historic Italian city of Florence.

In addition to visiting some of the city’s most famous attractions (The Duomo and Brunelleschi’s famous dome, the Palazzo Vecchio, and the incredible collection of Renaissance and Classical art at the Uffizi Gallery), I made time to visit a slightly less well known museum, but one that offers visitors some fascinating insights into the history of science: The Museo Galileo.
The museum houses a large collection of historic scientific instruments used by Florentine scientists from Galileo Galilei himself, to 19th century scientists such as Giovanni Battista Amici. The museum also explains how these Florentine scientists made important contributions to a wide range of scientific fields, from Astronomy to Medicine. Of particular interest from an Electron Microscopist’s point of view was the Museo Galileo’s collection of historic vacuum instruments. According to the description accompanying this collection, the scientists of Florence’s Accademia del Cimento (Academy of Experiments) performed some of the earliest experiments to investigate whether it was possible to create a vacuum, demolishing the traditional belief that vacuums couldn’t exist. Today, the ability to create and maintain a vacuum is, of course, fundamental to many technologies, including the Electron Microscope.

In future, I hope to be able to visit Italy again, and learn more about Italy’s contributions to science and culture.

What’s New

Dr. Barnaby Levin Attending TEM Gordon Research Conference

We’re pleased to share that our Applications Scientist, Dr. Barnaby Levin, is attending the upcoming

Direct Electron to give talk at Fall MRS in Boston

DE Applications Scientist, Dr. Barnaby Levin, will be presenting a talk at the 2025 MRS

Statement on Open-Source Microscopy Software

An open letter from Carter Francis,
Research and Development Scientist, on our commitment to open source software.

A HEAD-TO-HEAD COMPARISON OF CRYO-EM DETECTORS

Researchers from Florida State university have recently compared the performance of three different Direct Detectors for Cryo-EM analyzing the same protein.

Bob Monteverde to Attend Mountain States Society of Electron Microscopists Meeting

Director of Sales, Bob Monteverde, will be attending the Mountain States Society of Electron Microscopists (MSSEM)

Dr. Barnaby Levin Attending TEM Gordon Research Conference

We’re pleased to share that our Applications Scientist, Dr. Barnaby Levin, is attending the upcoming Transmission Electron Microscopy for Materials Research Gordon Research Conference, one of the premier international meetings focused on advancing the frontiers of TEM science and instrumentation, to give a talk about cutting-edge MAPS Detector Technology. The conference, running February 15-20, brings together leading researchers from around the world to present cutting-edge, often unpublished work while fostering deep scientific discussion and collaboration. This year’s program highlights recent breakthroughs in high-resolution TEM imaging and spectroscopy, while addressing key challenges such as imaging radiation-sensitive materials, improving throughput, and resolving structures in thicker samples. As TEM technology continues to push toward theoretical limits, meetings like this help shape the next decade of innovation in materials characterization. We’re excited to see Barnaby engaging with the global TEM community and contributing to discussions driving the field forward. And don’t forget to follow him on BlueSky at @bdalev.bsky.social!

Direct Electron to give talk at Fall MRS in Boston

DE Applications Scientist, Dr. Barnaby Levin, will be presenting a talk at the 2025 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit, going on from November 30 through December 5, in Boston, Massachusetts. Barnaby will be presenting on the latest advances in event-based detectors and cutting-edge software for in situ TEM imaging. His talk will highlight how our pioneering detector technology is enabling researchers to capture ultrafast, dynamic processes with unparalleled clarity and efficiency. If you’re attending MRS, be sure to stop by and connect with Barnaby to learn more about how next-generation TEM tools are reshaping materials characterization. And don’t forget to follow him on X at @Electron_Barn!