Overview
The human desire to continually dig deeper into the workings of our world has driven scientists to break the boundaries that seemed fixed only decades ago. What began as the discovery of a strange new electromagnetic ray by Roentgen has now morphed into incredibly complex analysis of microscopic materials. Delicate machines originally designed to examine the interactions between particles proved to be excellent for producing powerful X-rays because of the movement of electrons. Harnessing and controlling these X-rays enables researchers to examine crystals in minute detail, which has revolutionized our understanding of how natural processes are carried out. At the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) modern techniques such as X-ray crystallography are being employed to visualize macromolecules for their structure, which is then applied to solve real world problems.