President Obama Sees Atoms through an FEI Titan™ S/TEM

President Barack Obama finally got to see his atoms, courtesy of Intel and FEI’s Titan transmission electron microscope.

The President visited Intel Hillsboro’s Ronler Acres facility as part of a West Coast technology tour wrapping Friday, February 18, 2011. During his visit to the TEM lab, the President made his way through photographers and invited guests and took a seat at the facility’s Titan TEM.

President Obama at Tecnia TEM

“I’ve gotta see some atoms, excuse me,” he said while examining the images on the system’s monitors. “Don’t bump my atoms here.”

The President experienced first-hand the incredible power of FEI’s Titan TEM to see samples at the sub-Angstrom level. Since its introduction in 2005, the Titan has delivered ground-breaking results, making it the preferred scanning/transmission electron microscope (S/TEM) of leading researchers and technology labs around the world. The FEI Titan™ S/TEM family includes the world’s most powerful, commercially-available S/TEMs: the Titan™ G2 60-300, Titan3™ G2 60-300, Titan Krios™ and Titan™ ETEM (environmental TEM). Built around a revolutionary 60-300 kV electron column, all Titans enable sub-Angstrom, atomic scale discovery and exploration in both TEM and STEM modes.

In addition to his tour of the TEM lab, the President also met with boys from the Beaverton-Hillsboro Science Expo and students from Robert Gray Middle School, including six girls who are members of Intel’s First Lego Robotics Team.

“It gave them a chance to talk about things like quantum ternary algorithms,” he said to audience laughter, “and it gave me a chance to nod my head and pretend that I understood what they were talking about.”

“They deserve our applause and our praise, and they make me optimistic about America’s future,” he said.

The visit ended with a rousing speech to a crowd of 350 Intel workers, politicians and other dignitaries, including Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, and Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey.

Read the complete transcript of President Obama’s speech >

Watch and listen to the President’s speech on YouTube >

Read the OregonLive story >

About FEI

FEI (Nasdaq:FEIC) is a leading diversified scientific instruments company. It is a premier provider of electron- and ion-beam microscopes and tools for nanoscale applications across many industries: industrial and academic materials research, life sciences, semiconductors, data storage, natural resources and more. With more than 60 years of technological innovation and leadership, FEI has set the performance standard in transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and DualBeams™, which combine a SEM with a focused ion beam (FIB). FEI’s imaging systems provide 3D characterization, analysis and modification/prototyping with resolutions down to the sub-Angstrom (one-tenth of a nanometer) level. FEI’s NanoPorts in North America, Europe and Asia provide centers of technical excellence where its world-class community of customers and specialists collaborate. Headquartered in Hillsboro, Ore., USA, FEI has approximately 1800 employees and sales and service operations in more than 50 countries around the world.

Source: FEI

www.fei.com