NIOB | 2017 | The Microcosm | Bimetallic Coin

Niobium coin 2017 shows the history of the exploration of the microcosm

Even in ancient times, magnifying glasses were used in the search for the secret of life. In the 17th century, the Dutch naturalist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek produced microscopes that achieved magnification of up to 270 times. He used them to examine pond water, saliva, dental plaque and discovered tiny "little animals" in them, today we call them bacteria.

In the 1930s, the German engineer Ernst Ruska invented a microscope that used an electron beam instead of visible light to achieve a magnification of 12,000 times. The electron microscope became an indispensable tool in physics, chemistry, biology and engineering; it could even be used to image individual molecules and atoms. Another leap forward came in 1982 with the scanning tunneling microscope; it does not "see" surface atoms, but "feels" them. With this important instrument of nano research, a key technology of the 21st century, individual atoms and molecules can be touched and moved.

The side of the coin: The coin shows in the raspberry red and grass green niobium a butterfly with outstretched wings. Above it is an atom symbol. On the left, parts of a molecular chain can be seen extending from the silver ring into the niobium portion of the coin. The motifs in the silver ring show enlarged details of the main motif. Starting on the right: the detail of a butterfly wing, then clockwise: the magnification of the same under a microscope as well as that under an electron microscope, further cell structures and finally a cell with a cell nucleus.

On the picture side: the collector's coin spans the fragment of a cell over the pill, in it, starting at the top: sections of a ray animal, then clockwise a tetrahedrally arranged molecule, the full view of a ray animal and a bee. Placed within a hexagon, the right side of the silver ring shows the structure of a virus with a membrane envelope. Clockwise follow polioviruses, then helical spirillae and cocci, further a ray animal and the process of cell division. In addition to the three hexagons, molecules are also indicated.

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