Straying From the Beaten Path, and Other Stories About Molecules

Abstract

What determines a person’s course in life is to a great extent an accident. Even though my entry into the field of electron diffraction was largely a matter of chance, once in the field, I found it offered an extraordinary opportunity for scientific adventure. The following stories recount some of the serendipitous advances in the field that came from probing molecules by electron waves, as well as references to a few of the interesting personalities who played a role in the field.