At the international forefront of microscopy since 1839, the UK Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) says it has observed a resurgence in microscopy over recent years
This is exemplified in 2008 by burgeoning RMS membership numbers which have increased by 7% in the past two years, bucking trends experienced by most similar societies, as well as the exceptionally rapid growth and evolution of Microscience 2008 is destined to be the largest to date, with a 10% increase in exhibition space from 2006, and 110% since 2002.
In addition, running for three days alongside this major biennial exhibition, the sister conference has grown into a fully fledged international scientific conference for 2008.
Now the largest exhibition and conference in Europe focusing on microscopy, imaging and analysis, Microscience is organised by the RMS and will again return to London's Excel on 23-26 June 2008.
This incredible rate of growth in Microscience and RMS membership is a strong indicator of the increasing use of microscopy as an essential tool for both life and physical science applications.
"The drive towards greater sophistication and miniaturisation of products that we use every day in society, from mobile phones to pharmaceuticals, inevitably means that we need to improve our scientific understanding at a finer scale.
"Consequently, greater emphasis is now placed on microscopy as the basic tool for providing that understanding," observes RMS president Mark Rainforth.
"Microscopy and imaging are experiencing a renaissance with the advent of numerous new exciting techniques, many of which will be showcased at Microscience this summer".
With key international companies such as: Bruker, FEI, Hitachi, Jeol, Leica, Olympus, Oxford Instruments, Veeco, Carl Zeiss UK, and Carl Zeiss SMT exhibiting alongside nearly 100 others, the exhibition will provide an eclectic selection of the very latest microscopy related scientific equipment under one roof.
There will also be a number of companies new to Microscience: Agilent Technologies, GE Healthcare, Smiths Detection, Thermo Scientific, Asylum Research, Cambridge Analytical Instruments, Cemmnt, Close-Ups, Edinburgh Instruments, EMS, Essen Instruments, HWL Scientific Instruments, Laser 2000, Nanofactory, Nanonis, Attocube, Michelson Diagnostics, Mad City Labs, Millbrook Instruments, Qioptiq Imaging Solutions, Tescan and Sympatec.
"As 2008's key exhibition devoted exclusively to microscopy and imaging where visitors will be able to get close to the cutting edge in technology and techniques and meet with world leading experts for free, we see Microscience as the Motor Show of microscopy" explains Rob Flavin, RMS executive director.
"In addition to the exhibition, there will be specialist workshops demonstrating many of the new microscopy techniques and a chance to pick up basic information on different fundamental techniques in our RMS Learning Zone.
"These features are free to all visitors."
