Liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (LC-TEM) has emerged as a powerful tool for direct visualization of nanocrystal nucleation and growth at high spatial resolution. Current limitations of the liquid cell sample holders necessitate utilizing the electron beam as the stimulus for initiating nanocrystal formation and other related processes like molecular crystallization, nanoparticle etching, and self-assembly. Electron beam induced chemistry has proven to be considerably more complex than conventional chemical reagents used in flask-based synthesis of nanomaterials.

Tommy was born in Linz, Upper Austria in 1983. In 2002, he moved to Vienna to study chemistry at the University of Vienna. In 2007, he joined the laboratories of Prof. Johann Mulzer and under his guidance he developed enantioselective syntheses of the complex polyketide kendomycin and echinopines A and B [Interesting tidbit: he and another graduate student worked on the echinopines without telling Prof. Mulzer; they finished the synthesis, wrote it up, and presented it to their boss.].