A closer look at nanotechnology

Definitions of nanotechnology have been in an almost constant state of flux since the ‘birth’ of the discipline in the late 80s. I say birth, but perhaps ‘coalescence’ is a more correct term. When a new scientific field comes into being, it draws on previous work and expertise – often from disparate sources – as it finally fuses into a bona-fide discipline of its own.

And so it was to be with nanotechnology. The science of the very small has of course been studied for centuries, and many great thinkers had posited the idea of manipulation – engineering even – on a nanoscale. Yet these relatively isolated ideas remained largely theoretical until the tools of the trade caught up with the scientists ambitions. And such a breakthrough came in 1981 with the development of the scanning tunnelling microscope.

At a stroke scientists could now visualise the nanoscale as never before – the term nanotechnology was now in regular use. Yet its definition has been somewhat trickier to pin down, mainly I think because it is a discipline based entirely on the physical scale over which it operates. Was it simply the manipulation of atoms and molecules? Early work in the field can perhaps be described as just that – but as methods and expertise develop so does the ambition. Novel materials, molecular self-assembly, biological interaction, toxicology – modern nanotechnology is a varied and hugely complex affair.

The field has impacted on scientific research and engineering in an almost incalculable number of ways, some of which we touch on in this issue. From advances in technology to study and understand material on the nanoscale to interesting applications, the field of nanotechnology – whatever its definition – is a vibrant and exciting one.