About nano

Nanotechnology is the application of science and engineering at the atomic scale. It facilitates the construction of new materials and devices by manipulating individual atoms and molecules, the building blocks of nature. Nanotechnology enables the atom-by-atom design and fabrication of tiny structures that are very small, typically 1-100 nanometres, and which have new properties and powerful application in medicine and biotechnology, in energy and the environment, and in computing and telecommunications.


Nanotechnology is an extension of the discoveries and applications of quantum mechanics, which last century led to a detailed understanding of matter on the atomic scale, and to innovations such as transistors, lasers, and molecular biology. Despite the knowledge of atoms and molecules gained from quantum theory, only in the past 15-20 years were techniques developed to directly image, characterize and deliberately manipulate individual atoms and molecules. It is these techniques and their application that have led to the recent rapid advances in nano-scale science and engineering.

Nanotechnology is in its early stages of development, and much remains to be discovered. Building new and useful devices out of a few atoms or molecules is technically challenging, and occupies many of today's pre-eminent scientists and engineers in the best laboratories throughout the world. Many of the principles of how matter functions and organizes on the nano-scale – the so-called 'design rules' – have yet to be developed. A major challenge is determining how to assemble different types of nano-sized particles and devices, such as bio-molecules, nano-scale motors, and nano-electronics, into more complex systems that do new and useful things. Another challenge is connecting these tiny systems to the outside world so they can be controlled, monitored and provide useful information. These challenges are the principal focus of research activities at the National Institute for Nanotechnology, and are outlined in the NINT Research Plan.

Some of the prominant Pioneers in the field of nanotechnology

Robert F. Curl
Kenneth S. Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor of Natural Sciences and Professor of Chemistry. 1996 Nobel Laureate, together with Sir Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley for the discovery of fullerenes.

Richard P. Feynman
1965 Nobel Laureate in Physics for fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles.

James Gimzewski
He pioneered research on electrical contacts with single atoms and molecules and light emission using scanning tunneling microscopy.

Sir Harold Kroto
Became a Royal Society Research Professor in 1991 and was knighted for his contributions to Chemistry in 1996. Later that year, together with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley, received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of C60 Buckminsterfullerene - a new form of carbon.

Richard Smalley
University Professor, Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics & Astronomy. 1996 Nobel Laureate, together with Sir Harold Kroto and Robert Curl for the discovery of fullerenes.

George Whitesides
Professor Whitesides and his group work in four areas: biochemistry, materials science, catalysis and physical organic chemistry.

Gerd Karl Binnig & Heinrich Rohrer
Inventors of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (1981)


http://www.nano.org.uk/nano/pioneers.htm
This is the url wich gave me these prominant name