[1] Early comics-fandom pioneer Jerry Bails wrote to the National Comics editor Julius Schwartz in December 1960 outlining an updated version of Al Pratt, the company's 1940s Golden Age Atom.

[4]Schwartz wrote Bails on January 6 saying he had already been planning a new version of the Atom, in the vein of National's reimagined Golden Age superheroes the Flash and Green Lantern, and had already asked artist Gil Kane to sketch designs.

[7] Kane, who lived in Jericho, New York, on Long Island, at the time, drove to the nearby Hicksville home of DC production person Tom Nicolosi, who colored the drawings using St. Martin's dyes.

"[8] Schwartz said he had not wanted to reuse the Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, and had read about dwarf stars and thought a fragment of one could power the new hero's miniaturization.

Using a mass of white dwarf star matter he finds after it lands on Earth, Palmer fashions a lens that enables him to shrink any object to any degree he wishes.

In desperation, Palmer secretly uses the lens he has carried with him to shrink himself to be able to climb through a small opening in the fallen rocks sealing the cave, knowing he will likely explode.

[12] A retcon in Brightest Day: The Atom Special (July 2010) removes the influence of his exotic physical makeup, tying his survival instead to the discovery of a compression matrix, a fabric able to spread the effects of the ray on the entire body, stabilizing it.

[13] Palmer creates a belt tool to control his miniaturization to subatomic size with an emergency backup mechanism in his gloves, and develops a costume that he can wear at most times that only becomes visible when he shrinks significantly.

Palmer has fought against several alien and supernatural threats, as well as having his own rogues gallery, including Chronos, the Bug-Eyed Bandit, the Floronic Man, and the Bat-Knights of Elvaran.

In the attempt, he fails to anticipate that the connection will involve satellite relay and the unexpectedly arduous trip causes him to remain at approximately three feet high and without his costume's size changing equipment.

The Atom would take on new enemies during this period, such as Humbug, a sentient robot in control of an army of duplicates of itself, and Strobe, a technological armor-clad crook.

Instead, teammate Ginsburg dies in the explosion they set and Ray approaches Adam Cray about becoming the new Atom to bring the remaining Micro/Squad into the open.

He becomes field leader of a new group of Teen Titans, composed of hybrids of human beings and the H'San Natall, after a chance meeting with Isaiah Crockett on his first day attending Ivy University.

The group primarily battled the Veil, an anti-alien organization that employed Deathstroke and Dark Nemesis, but it's revealed that their leader Pylon was actually a H'San Natall.

One notable student under Palmer was Ronnie Raymond, who, without the assistance of Martin Stein, found difficulty in fully employing his abilities as Firestorm.

Ryan Choi, a student of physics in Hong Kong who corresponded with Ray Palmer via mail in the past, found a copy of his costume and shrinking device to become the current Atom.

During the missing year, Palmer's technology is employed by Supernova to shrink and grow in size to enter and exit the bottle city of Kandor.

Subsequently, Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy and Jason Todd scour the Multiverse for the former Atom, who just might hold the key to saving reality from a crisis of unparalleled proportions.

Although the Indigo Tribe eschews formal uniforms for tribal patterns over simple garments, Ray Palmer's costume is turned into a close approximation of the tattered Sword of the Atom clothing he had used in the past.

He ends up reliving Sue Dibny's death, and is then attacked by various Black Lantern Morlaidhans, the minuscule race he befriended during Sword of the Atom.

[33] In the final battle, Palmer gets his wish when Hawkman and Hawkgirl are brought back to life by power of white light at the end of the Blackest Night series.

[35] For a brief three-issue tenure, Palmer was part of writer James Robinson's new Justice League line-up, but resigned to help his friend Martin Stein with some sort of project.

[50] Ray eventually finds Dwarfstar in a hospital, where he is recovering from the severe injuries he sustained from his torture at the hands of Giganta (Ryan's ex-girlfriend).

[56] In the Convergence crossover, when the alternate Brainiac miniaturized the universe of the New Earth, Ray Palmer, who had been in a mental state with his powers to increase size affected since imprisoned in the dome, sends out a broadcast message that he will pursue Deathstroke for Ryan Choi's murder.

He later uses his size-shifting abilities to assist Superman in visiting the Bottle City of Kandor, during which he wears a protective suit similar to the Atom costume.

[63] Subsequently, in the DC Rebirth reboot, on Earth-0, Ray Palmer is, by day, a professor at an Ivy League college and, by night, the experienced crime fighter The Atom.

During Countdown to Final Crisis, Palmer learned he could shrink down beyond the subatomic scale to traverse the Multiverse by slipping below the quantum layer beneath reality.

He has also developed several other technologically sophisticated gadgets during his tenure as the CEO of Palmer Tech such as surgical nanobots, dispersal units, smartwatches, etc.

He is an adept chemist as well, as he was able to analyze and modify Eobard Thawne's biomolecular enhancer to have lasting and more stable effects while in World War II, despite the formula initially being made from 22nd-century technology.

[92] IGN also ranked the Atom as the 64th Greatest Comic Book Hero of All Time stating; "Of all the superheroes out here, Dr. Ray Palmer might be one of the most brilliant tortured souls imaginable.