Molecules make up everything around you – your skin, your desk and even your food. Yet they are too small to be visible with the naked eye or simple microscopes. The idea of the existence of molecules was proposed by Amadei Avogadro over 200 years ago. Since then, research has made massive progress, allowing us to take images of molecules and even atoms. 

The minuscule size of molecules makes them invisible for us. This is why scientists developed special technologies such as X-rays and electron microscopes to take images of molecules and even atoms. In 1912, one of the first molecules seen this way was salt (NaCl) – the molecule that makes up the ingredient we all know and love on french fries.