During the past 20 years neutron scattering has developed into an important tool for the determination of the structure of biologically important compounds. Traditionally these kinds of problems have been solved by x‐ray crystallography or electron microscopy, both of which require far cheaper and simpler instrumentation. The justification for the use of neutrons in biological research, which might seem at first an outrageous extravagance, is contained in a single word: “hydrogen.” The scattering of neutrons from hydrogen (and deuterium) is far larger compared to other atoms than is the comparative scattering of x rays and electrons; neutrons, therefore, are a much better probe for these light atoms.
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