History of Nanotechnology

The field of nanotechnology is of tremendous importance in the production of devices of many kinds. The field of nanotechnology has been intensely researched and speculated about. It is a technique of building or making things with atomic precision. When every atom is thoughtfully planned and arranged in the given scheme of things, it results in a super device with lot of applications. Although, the development in the field is a recent phenomenon, the core concepts of this science were laid long back in the 1950s. Richard Feynman, a Nobel prize winner laid the foundations of this field with his landmark address at the California Institute of Technology, in December 1959. He had proposed the idea of a technology, that would accommodate volumes of information on a needle point.

The History

This nanotechnological concept is in use since ancient times without actually defining the science. Vulcanization of rubber, paintings and various other processes employed the use of nanotechnological principles, even without realizing the greater significance of these techniques. One billionth of a meter is one nanometer, which roughly amounts to ten atoms placed side by side. Devices which are precisely dealt in or contain parts with the precision of less than 100 nanometers (nm) are included as the products of nanotechnology. James Maxwell had first made certain observations regarding the maneuvering of individual molecules by utilizing a concept known as 'Maxwell's Demons'. The actual attempts of observing and measuring the particles, were done by Richard Zsigmondy by the analysis of gold sols. He was the first person to characterize or classify the size of particles in the nanometer range.

Irving Langmuir won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, for introducing the world to a material with a layer one molecule thick. It was Feynman, who in his memorable address of 1959, envisioned the idea of a enormous space undetected by humans that can be used effectively. Manipulation of atoms and molecules wasn't achieved at the time he gave his remarks. Therefore, his theory was simply thought to be a fantastic visualization. It was only in the later decades, that the world understood the implications of his statement. He had suggested a bottoms-up approach for manipulating the individual atoms of a material. He also offered rewards for solving two challenges; first was to create a 'nanomotor' for converting energy into movement by generating forces of extremely low order and the other for accommodation letters of an encyclopedia on a needle head, by nanoscaling.

The first prize was won by William McLellan in 1960 and the latter was achieved by Tom Newman in 1985, when he wrote 25,000 letters of a novel on a needle point area by means of an electron beam. Moore's law, formulated on the basis of an observation by Gordon Moore, also specifies the impact of nanotechnology in building computers. He stated that the number of transistors incorporated on an integrated circuit would rise exponentially such that the performance of the circuit would double every two years. Every digital electronics equipment seemed to obey Moore's law in terms of their memory capacity, speed of operation or external feature integration. In fact, it almost seems that, smaller the size of a device, greater are the features ingrained in it.

The behavior and handling of atoms and molecules was further studied by Dr. Suntola and his aids in Finland. Dr. Drexler, who famously explored the nano-scale phenomenon and devices had another interesting perspective on this field which was called, 'Molecular Technology.' Richard Jones, published a simplified work on nanotechnology for the common reader, wherein he describes the various terms associated with the branch. The current practices in nanotechnology enlists exciting new initiatives like the use of bacteria for powering spy drones and small robots or use plant viruses to build elements of nanotechnology. Ultimately, it would be fair to state, that researchers all over the world are very enthusiastic to carry the science of nanotechnology forward, at a brisk pace.