Introduction, history and Timeline of Nanobiotechnology

Abstract
It all began in the winter of December 1959 in a meeting at the California Institute of
Technology (CalTech) when a rather modest scientist (136 IQ compared to 142 of Einstein) who
went by the name of Richard Feynman delivered a lecture titled There is plenty of room at the
bottom. Although it did not include the term Nanotechnology, the ideas and concepts of
nanotechnology were the principal objective of the lecture.
Feynmans lecture opened up a new area of physics altogether. He described a process in which
scientists could control and manipulate atoms and or anything which was in the size range 10^-9
meters. This revolutionized the entire world of physics and now we have the use of
Nanotechnology everywhere, from fluoride nano-crystals in your toothpaste to gold nano
particles use in the early detection of Cancer to future uses of nanobots to cure diseases
spontaneously.

Leecture I
Introducction
In Decem
mber 1959, Richard Feynman
F
dellivered a leecture on m
manipulationn and control of
individuaal atoms and
d molecules at the Califo
ornia Institut
ute of Technoology calledd There is pplenty
of ro
oom at thee bottom, which accted as fouunding stepp of
nanoteechnology and
a
openedd up a neew branch all-togetherr for
Physiccists.
After almost a deccade in his eexploration oof ultra-preccision machiining,
u
the term
rm nanotechhnology foor the first tiime[1]
Norio Taniguchi used
opularized bby Drexler [2]], and thus bbegan the jouurney
and laater it was po
of nan
notechnology
y and its relaated branchees.
The teerm nano has been dderived from
m the Greeek word naanos
which means dwaarf. The Nattional Nanottechnology Initiative deefines
nanoteechnology as
a The maanipulation of matter w
with at-leastt one
dimen
nsion sized between
b
1 too 100 nanom
meters (It iis imperativee that
one off the dimen
nsions shoulld be between 1 to 1000 nanometerrs for
quantu
um mechaniccal effects too take place)).
So how
w much exacctly is one nnanometer?
- There are
a 25,400,00
0 nanometerrs in one inch
h;
- On a co
omparative scale,
s
if a maarble were a nanometer,, then one m
meter would bbe the size oof the
earth.
pulate atomss and moleccules at the molecular leevel itself iss a very excciting
The abiliity to manip
thing, bu
ut the fact that we could use it for ou
ur benefit is even more mind-boggliing. This waas the
exact reaaction of sciientists of th
hat time, butt they did noot even havve the apparaatuses to obbserve
these ato
oms, manipulating these atoms was a very far offf thing. Butt after the asscent of the STM
(Scannin
ng Tunnelin
ng Microsscope)[3] an
nd the A
AFM (Atom
mic Force Microscoppe)[4],
Nanotech
hnology gain
ned a very po
ositive push towards thee right directtion.
Even tho
ough nano-sccience and nanotechnol
n
logy as a brranch of scieence is quitee new, nanooscale
materialss have been used from a long time. If
I you mightt have seen the stained gglass window
ws of
medievall churches, you
y have seeen a spectaccle of nano-sscience maggic. The artissts creating these
stained glass
g
window
ws used alteernate sized silver and ggold particlees. The proccess they ussed to
create th
hese glass windows
w
led to the chan
nges in the compositionn of the matterials they were
working with.

In the present
p
scenario, scientiists use a wide
w
varietyy of techniqques and m
methods to ccreate
nanoscale devices ass they are more
m
durable, have a hiigher strenggth, lighter w
weight and other
-9
d properties than
t
materiaals of normall sizes (>10^^ ).
enhanced

Essence
E
off Nanotech
hnology
Beauty of
o Fine Dots Making
g sense of sm
mall nothin
ngs Seurett :Sunday aafternoon on
n the
Islands of
o Grand Jeette.