Inventor: Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer

The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) has the ability to view individual atoms, greatly changing our atomic theories and opening the ways to new technologies.
The scanning tunneling microscope, invented in 1981 by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer while working for IBM, has the ability to see detail as small as 1/25 of a typical atom’s diameter. It can image individual atoms on surfaces that conduct electricity. Scientists are able to move specific atoms, and in the future may be able to create electronic circuits on the atomic or molecular level. With the microscope, scientists can see at the nanometer level, one millionth of a meter.
This technology has many possible impacts in the future, including development of computer chips on the atomic level, making them much faster and smaller than is possible today. The ability to view atoms has changed some of our atomic theory, proving and disproving previous theories. It has opened up new fields of study in many different areas, including microbiology and semiconductors, and will continue to support development as technology continuously improves.

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Sources:
About Inc. Hall of Fame: Gerd Karl Binnig. 17 October 2003.. <http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.invent.org/
hall%5Fof%5Ffame/1%5F1%5F6%5Fdetail.asp%3FvInventorID=14>

IBM Corporation. IBM Research: Scanning Tunneling Microscope. 13 October 2003. <http://domino.watson.ibm.com/Comm/bios.nsf/pages/stm.html>

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