ABSTRACT
Furthermore, a point that is most important is that it would have
an enormous number of technical applications. What I want to talk
about is the problem of manipulating and controlling things on a
small scale.” It is with these words that R. P. Feynman, on the 29
December 1959, at the annual meeting of the American Physical
Society, introduced for the first time the concept of nanotechnology
(the word “nano” dates back to the ancient Greece, with nano (= νανoζ ) indicating something of small dimensions). Since Feynman’s speech, this intriguing discipline has achieved incredible
goals going even beyond Feynman’s expectations. For example, the
24 million volumes mentioned by Feynman in his “There’s Plenty
of Room at the Bottom” would fit in about 30 Tbyte hard drive,
which has dimensions much lower than the 3 square yards initially
estimated by Feynman.
