My Chance at the Electron Microscope

In my junior year at Penn I was taking a course on plant microstructure which involved a great deal of microscope work. Our professor told us that at some point he was going to arrange a session for us with the universities' electron microscope. The day finally arrived, we went down to the basement of the Bio lab building. Electron microscopes were always kept in basements to reduce vibration. We spent a half hour playing with a polarizing microscope they kept down there, and just when we were about to go into the room where they kept the electron microscope, a woman came running out shouting "They just shot the President"

I don't remember anyone actually saying anything after that. I remember wandering off to the Frankford El and riding it home. It wasn't until about 40 years later that I got into that room to see that microscope. I guess some things are never meant to be.