Nanotechnology Lect.1

The term Nano originated from the Greek Nanos which means ?dwarf‘. It is one billionth of a meter. Therefore, whenever we think about nanoscience or nanotechnology, very small objects come to the mind. Indeed, this branch of science and technology deals with materials having at least one spatial dimension in the size range of 1 to 100 nm.
? Richard P. Feynman (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1965) is often credited for introducing the concept of nanotechnology about 50 years ago. In the annual meeting of the American Physical Society at California Institute of Technology on 26 December 1959, he delivered a famous lecture entitled ?There‘s Plenty of Room at the Bottom?. In this lecture, he talked about writing twenty four volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica on the head of a pin, and miniaturizing the computer (see Feynman, 1992). He also suggested that it would be possible to arrange the atoms the way we want. Therefore, a physicist should be able to synthesize any chemical substance by putting the atoms down where the chemist says.
? The lecture of Feynman had inspired many scientists in various ways. For example, K. Eric Drexler wrote a book (in 1986) entitled ?Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology?. Drexler envisioned a world completely transformed by Nano-scale robot assemblers. These assemblers would manipulate and build things atom-by-atom working furiously running a nanofactory. They would be able to build anything with absolute precision and no pollution.