Manfred von Ardenne was an EM pioneer and the first to publish a complete concept of a scanning electron microscope. A German overseas newscast reported the death of Manfred von Ardenne on 28 May. During the 1930s he was involved in cathode ray work and later lived In East Germany and did significant cancer research. Not mentioned in the newscast was his conceptual development of the SEM in the late 1930s.

He outlined the underlying principles of SEM operation: an electron probe scanning a small region of [fie specimen, the emitled electrons are captured, amplified and time-sequentially displayed on a cathode ray tube. Magnification is the ratio between the areas scanned and displayed His was the fantastic notion of a microscope without a magnifying lens.