Kenneth Bart, Director of the Microscopy & Imaging Facility at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, was testing a sample preparation protocol when a magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck.
At that moment he was using an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) isolated on a TMC Floor Platform with Gimbal Piston™ air isolators to collect an image of a hydrated specimen of a
firefly eye. During the quake, Bart detected movement in his chair and other items in the lab, but the ESEM remained vibration-free. The ESEM images below, taken in variable pressure mode, show the firefly eye with
water droplets four minutes before the earthquake (left) and during the quake (right). The images are indistinguishable.
SEM image taken before the earthquake
SEM image taken during the earthquake
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