The University of Virginia unveiled a powerful new microscope Friday, one that will let its scientists chart exactly how atoms line up with one another.
Officially designated a Titan scanning-transmission electron microscope, the machine is one of only 18 such instruments owned by universities nationwide.
The $1.5 million machine was funded by Altria. It is part of a $25 million commitment Philip Morris, an Altria subsidiary, made to UVa in 2007.
John T. Casteen III, who was president of UVa when the deal was struck, joined Altria’s board of directors after his retirement from the university.
The machine, housed in a special room in Wilsdorf Hall, is more powerful than other microscopes the university already owns, said Thomas C. Skalak, UVa’s vice president for research.
Electrons are blasted at the object being study, and researchers then observe the shadow they leave.
A number of different disciplines, including chemistry and materials science, are expected to benefit from the microscope.
Samples under the microscope are magnified roughly 2 million times.
“The Titan's capabilities make it very useful to researchers in the physical sciences and engineering, as well as — when operated at lower power — for biomedical analysis of delicate tissues and engineered biomaterials,” said Phillip A. Parrish, associate vice president for research, in a statement.
Among the scientists to use it will be Mark Yeager, whose studies include the makeup of viruses. When studying the chemistry of such things “you have to be able to image at the atomic level,” he said.
Howe showed a cross-section of a data-storage device. Images showed the crystallization that an annealing process had caused.
“There’s just no other way to see this kind of stuff,” he said.
The service contract for the new microscope, required to keep it up and running, costs about $120,000 each year, which is paid from a variety of sources within the university, said James Howe, a professor of materials science.
Altria tends to focus on donations that align with its interests, in this case including cutting-edge research, said Charles Agee, a company spokesman. Other donations have gone to the Curry School of Education and the School of Medicine.
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