How did we learn to “see” atoms and molecules after von Laue?

Abstract

In 1912 we commemorate the centenary of one of the most striking findings of science, the observation that the so-called X-rays behave as electromagnetic waves and, what was even more important, that they interact with crystals, through the diffraction phenomenon, showing their internal repetitive arrangement. These findings, which were due to the German physicist Max von Laue (1914 Nobel Laureate in Physics), were followed by many further discoveries that changed the history of chemistry, physics, biology, biochemistry and biomedicine. This article is aimed to honour all those researchers who, from the early twentieth century, allowed us to know what crystals are, what molecules, hormones, nucleic acids, enzymes, proteins and virus are, along with their properties and how can we understand their function in a chemical reaction, in a test tube, or inside a living being.