Telescopes explore the universe: planets, stars, galaxies, and nebulas. Scanning tunnelling microscopes (STM) and atomic force microscopes (AFM) explore the microscopic world: atoms, molecules, and wavefunctions inside atoms and molecules. It was often said that STM is to nanotechnology what the telescope was to astronomy. Yet STM is capable of manipulating the objects it observes, to build nanoscale structures that never existed in Nature. No telescope is capable
of bringing Mars and Venus together. There is a large variety of STM and AFM instruments. Even a home-built STM can see beautiful images of atoms and molecules on a desktop. Sophisticated instruments
in ultra-high vacuum and low temperature can explore the very details of the subatomic world. STM and AFM guide scientists of various disciplines, including physicists, chemists, engineers, and biologists to visualize and utilize the microscopic world around us.