Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Feynman suggested that in principle, it should be possible to make tiny
machines that can specifically arrange atoms as needed and mechanically
manipulate chemical synthesis. In his talk, he presented the idea of building
a tiny, swallowable surgical robot by developing a set of one-quarter-scale
manipulator hands slaved to the operator's hands to build one-quarter-scale
machine tools analogous to those found in any machine shop. This set of small
tools would then be used by the small hands to build and operate 10 sets of one-
sixteenth-scale hands and tools, and so forth, culminating in perhaps a billion
tiny factories to achieve multiple equivalent operations, which was coinciden-
tally anticipated earlier by science fiction author, Robert A. Heinlein in his story
called “Waldo” in 1942.
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Feynman also suggested the idea to shrink computing devices down their
physical limits, where “wires should be 10 or 100 atoms in diameter”.
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In
2009, Samsung announced large-scale production of devices built with 30 nm
technology as envisioned by Feynman.
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Feynman also suggested that focused
electron beams could write nanoscale features on a surface, which we now call
e-beam lithography.
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He gave out the idea of the possibilities of improved
microscopes that could visualize objects that are much smaller than is possible
with scanning electron microscopes. These ideas are now in the form of scan-
ning tunneling microscope (STM), transmission electron microscope (TEM),
atomic force microscope (AFM), and other examples of probe microscopy. He
discussed complex, active, nanoscale biological mechanisms that have now
become the basis of biotechnology, which has delivered what are in some ways
the most advanced type of nanotechnologies.
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Thus, Feynman basically envisioned a path to the atomically precise world
from the top to the smallest detail by building smaller and smaller machines,
and ultimately using these to build machines the smallest possible scale by
“manipulating atom by atom”.
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At this talk, Feynman offered a prize of $1000
for the first individuals to solve challenges. In November 1960, the first chal-
lenge which involved the construction of a tiny motor was achieved by William
McLellan to Feynman's surprise.
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McLellan was a meticulous craftsman that
developed the first tiny motor using conventional tools without advancing the
art. In the second challenge, the letters were to be scaled down small enough so
as to be able to fit the entire Encyclopedia Britannica on the head of a pin, by
writing the information from a topic page on a surface 1/25,000 smaller in linear
scale.
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A Stanford graduate student, Tom Newman, successfully reduced the
first paragraph of
A Tale of Two Cities
by 1/25,000, and collected the second
Feynman prize in 1985.
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It was not until 1974 that the term “nanotechnology” was defined by
Tokyo Science University Professor Norio Taniguchi in a paper:
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“Nano-
technology mainly consists of the processing of, separation, consolidation, and
deformation of materials by one atom or by one molecule.” The significance
of this concept was popularized in depth by Dr K. Eric Drexler, who promoted
the technological significance of nanoscale phenomena and devices through
