Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
The Origins and the Making
of Nanotechnologies
The emperor looked and saw that the tiniest sort of a speck
really was lying upon the salver. The workmen say: 'Please
spit on your finger, and take it in your palm.' 'But what am I
to do with this speck?' 'It is not a speck,' they answer, 'but a
nymfozoria.' 'Is it alive?' 'Not at all,' they reply; 'it is not
alive, but it has been forged by us in the image of a flea out of
pure English steel, and in the middle of it are works and a
spring.' Please wind it up with the little key:
it will
immediately begin to dance.
NS Leskov
“The steel flea.”
1.1 A Few Words About the Roots of Nanotechnology
in Human Consciousness
When talking about nanotechnology, the basis of not only the technical and techno-
logical revolution of recent years but also a source of fundamental shifts in the
psychology of human society, one should not forget about its potential origins.
Starting from ancient times, the idea of miniaturization seemed quite natural, i.e.,
the existence or creation of objects with dimensions much smaller than those usual
for man that are still able to perform the functions inherent for their macro
counterparts. This is manifested both in folk beliefs about various miniature
creatures accompanying man, elves and dwarves and in literature.
Thus, over 300 years ago the great fantasist Jonathan Swift described the state of
Lilliputians. Its inhabitants were less than one-tenth the size of normal human beings,
but the organization and the laws of society differed little from those prevailing
at that time in England. Swift brilliantly used his imagined model as a satirist. And,
as a matter of fact, this practical significance is where one of the main goals of his
nanotechnological approach, as we understand it today, manifested itself.
In the middle of the nineteenth century the famous Russian writer Nikolai
Semenovich Leskov wrote his novel
The Steel Flea
. It narrates of the Emperor
Alexander Pavlovich who, while traveling after the Congress of Vienna, received in
England a “nymfozoria” (footnote: infusoria)—a steel flea—as a gift. It was visible
