The discovery of X-rays and electrons in the last decade of the 19th century enabled the determination of crystal structures on the atomic scale, which brought about the modern era of crystallography. The first X-ray diffraction experiment was conducted in 1912 by Max von Laue, while electron diffraction was first realized in 1927 in the Davisson–Germer experiment. They later developed into the two main branches of crystallography, X-ray crystallography and electron crystallography. The quality and throughput of solving crystal structures were greatly increased in the second half of the 20th century, with the developments of customized instruments and phasing algorithms. Nowadays, crystallography is an interdisciplinary field, supporting theoretical and experimental discoveries in various domains. The modern-day scientific instruments for crystallography vary from laboratory-sized equipments, such as diffractometers and electron microscopes, to dedicated large facilities, such as photoinjectors, synchrotron light sources and free-electron lasers.