It is only a couple of molecules thick, and could not be thinner: the sheet of glass that scientists at the University of Ulm and Cornell University have discovered by accident. This discovery has now been acknowledged as a world record with an entry in Guinness World Records 2014. “Although glass is indeed transparent, the individual silicon and oxygen atoms can be made visible under the electron microscope”, explains Ute Kaiser. The Professor of Experimental Physics directs the electron microscopy group of materials science at the University of Ulm. She is still fascinated by this very special journey of discovery, which has taken more than one year: “Step by step we have, through our experiments and reflections, unravelled the secrets of the material, and this was unbelievably exciting. A real science thriller.” The image shows a model of the atomic structure of SiO2 suggested by W.H. Zachariasen back in 1932. In the back we see the experimental TEM image of the year 2013 taken by Simon Kurasch. The similarities are very obvious. The dark contrast corresponds to the Si atoms. Simon Kurasch, at that time still a graduate student studying for a doctorate under Ute Kaiser at the University of
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