The Institute for Electron Microscopy IFE - between Science and Technology

The Institute for Electron Microscopy (IFE) -between Science and Technology 

The unavoidable retirement of Ernst Ruska was set to occur at the end of 1974. At the same time, pressure for the timely reorientation of the FHl was increasing thanks to the activities of the new MPG President, Reimar Liist, who pursued with marked vigor the reforms that Butenandt had promoted only cautiously. This elicited noticeable concern from many older, more-conservative members 

In any case, Ruska continued to shape the IFE until the end of his term of service. In 1972, construction was supposed to begin on a new microscope with a 250 kV single-field condenser objective. This DEEKO 250 was supposed to make possible a resolution of approximately 1 Angstrom. However, sundry difficulties slowed its development, so that it only became operational under Ruska s successor in 1980. The potential of the DEEKO 100, on the other hand, was exploited to the veiy theoretical limits of its performance, which was easiest to do when the microscope was housed within one of the Ruska towers. Building on his experiences at Siemens, Herrmann also developed helpful image enhancement techniques.  

In the meantime, a compromise solution of sorts had arisen in the committee searching for Ruska s successor. The proposal was to appoint a tripartite board of scientific directors to guide the IFE whose members would oversee groups directed respectively toward further technical innovation, in the manner of Ruska theoretical development, and experimental applications. A candidate to head the experimental group, John M. Cowley of Arizona State University, was approached and presented his ideas for the IFE, which were compatible with the future plans 

Crucial to the decision in favor of Zeitler were his work on the quantitative interpretation of electron microscopy images and on the scanning transmission 

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