Comments on: The Smallest Sculptures in the World

By: Franklin

Franklin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:51:43 +0000

Amazing piece of art…

By: J. I. Nelson, Ph.D.

J. I. Nelson, Ph.D. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:24:32 +0000

Neuroscientists who have done single-cell recordings/microinjections etc and made their own electrodes will have a certain sympathy and understanding for Willard Wigan. I certainly preferred to work alone, on Sundays, in a deserted lab, and, excitable by nature, I knew I had to enter a different, calmed state. I was fabricating structures 7 microns in size for our team, but they were simple, and I had an XYZ-theta stage to hold the work (movement in 3 dimensions + 1 axis of rotation, with dial-a-micron positioning). You enter a different world, where “liquids” may be hard as solids, surface tension binds like a magnet, a finely-drawn glass fiber can be a battering ram, a broken glass edge is sharper than anything you can make. But I could not do any of this (”Hi, boss, sorry about the electrodes, but here’s Elvis.”) and I would have to sit at Wigan’s feet to learn.

By: Teves

Teves — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:01:41 +0000

Thats great…

By: Suzanne Fey Lastorino

Suzanne Fey Lastorino — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:57:10 +0000

Wow! That is totally amazing! What a delicate and beautiful art.

By: joystick7

joystick7 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:20:45 +0000

Wow!! Really Cool.

By: Melody Arcamo Lagrimas

Melody Arcamo Lagrimas — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:15:53 +0000

Very interesting, thanks!

By: R J Evans

R J Evans — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:32:59 +0000

These are astounding! Great stuff!

By: Lost in Arizona

Lost in Arizona — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:38:41 +0000

That is ridiculously nuts! I wonder how many years it took him to master this skill. The precision and meticulous work behind these pieces is absolutely mind boggling. I’m loving this article. I’ll have to come back again so I can check this out with a magnifying glass…lol. Truly wonderful article Darlene. Fantastic!

By: thestickman

thestickman — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:27:14 +0000

I wonder now what the ’surgical instrument’ really is… A surgeon’s scalpel has a sharpness edge of around 8-microns width. Certain types of quartz/flint (like as used in arrowheads, etc) can have a sharpness edge of around 1-2 microns width. -Obsideon blades notably are what are used for scalpels in very specific heart/heart-valve operations due to their extreme sharpness which has been shown to also heal better due to, believe it or not, ‘less trauma’ at the incision site!

By: Joanna Besteiro Barnett

Joanna Besteiro Barnett — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:53:02 +0000

WOW, I need a high-powered microscope just to see it. These are truly amazing.