A Single Molecule

I remember as a kid riding through the Monsanto Adventure Through Inner Space ride at Disneyland in which you supposedly were shrunk to molecular size. The molecules you saw on that attraction were simulated, but Powerline has the information on the first actual photo of a molecule:

A single molecule has been photographed--sort of--for the first time by a team from IBM. Here it is:

The molecule even looks like how it's diagrammed. The experiment was conducted under very cold conditions:

The experiment was also performed inside a high vacuum at the extremely cold temperature of -268C to avoid stray gas molecules or atomic vibrations from affecting the measurements.

The molecule pictured is roughly one-millionth the diameter of a grain of sand. This is plausibly said to be a significant step forward in nanotechnology.

Very cool.