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Figure 2
How the term `cryo electron microscopy' emerged over time and along with technological developments. Early descriptions of behaviour of light and early glass lenses are reported from many centuries BCE (ancient Assyrian, Egypt, Indian, Chinese, Greek and Roman times) and evolved over long periods of time. Glass lenses were and are used with visible light (LM), but with the discovery of electrons and the use of electromagnetic lenses it became possible to built electron microscopes, resulting in EM. Cryo developments then allowed better preservation of biological specimens, thus giving rise to cryo electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and cryo electron tomography (cryo-ET; the central keywords are highlighted in blue). The chronological order of discoveries and developments is therefore directly relevant for the terminology used in the cryo-EM and cryo-ET fields.

IUCrJ
Volume 13| Part 5| September 2026| Pages 580-588
ISSN: 2052-2525
https://doi.org/10.1107/S2052252526007505