ABSTRACT

This chapter describes some of the fundamentals of nanotechnology (for further information see Schmid et al., 2006; Schmid, 2008; Sattler, 2010) and its societal contexts to the extent necessary for understanding the debates on societal and ethical issues.1 The topics covered are the history of nanotechnology (Section 2.1), the basic principles of physics and metrology and important areas of application of nanotechnology (Section 2.2), the definitions of nanotechnology and the difficulties surrounding them (Section 2.3), the interdisciplinary nature of the scientific community working on nanotechnologies (Section 2.4), the philosophical interpretations of nanotechnology (Section 2.5), and its social perception (Section 2.6). 2.1  History of NanotechnologyIn terms of its basic idea, the history of nanotechnology extends far back. Its guiding idea — namely, the intentional manipulation of matter at the level of atoms or molecules — was formulated back in 1959 by the American physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard P. Feynman in a lecture that is often quoted as representing the founding document of nanotechnology:2 1 The title of this chapter follows that of the book edited by Nordmann et al. (2006, in German).2 It should be noted, however, that the relationship between Feynman’s speech and nanotechnology is a construction or discovery ex post facto. At that time nobody took the thoughts expressed by Feynman as a recommendation to invent nanotechnologies because it was simply so far beyond the technical and scientific capabilities of the time.