Jointly founded by Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University, ER-C operates high-performance electron microscopes permitting unique insights into the world of atoms. The major issues tackled by ER-C include the further methodological development of high-resolution electron microscopic and spectroscopic methods and their application, currently predominantly for materials research and nanotechnology. In the near future, the life sciences will be added as the first new field of application. As a national user facility for the scientific community, we enable researchers from science and industry to use our instruments and methods, supported by our experts.