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The promise that launched the field of nanotechnology
Part 1 of a series on the history and prospects of advanced nanotechnology concepts, prompted by the upcoming 50th anniversary of Feynman’s historic talk, “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”. When...
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“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” (Richard Feynman, Pasadena, 29...
Richard Feynman, 1959 “Feynman’s 1959 talk, entitled ‘There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom’”, was delivered 50 years ago today, and the words I’ve quoted above are the first words in the first...
View ArticleThe Wall Street Journal on Feynman, Drexler, History, and the Future
The Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday, “Feynman and the Futurists”, about Feynman’s ideas, mine, how the nanotechnology bandwagon got rolling, and how the band got thrown off the wagon...
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Chemists deserve more credit: Atoms, Einstein, and the Matthew Effect
Johann Josef Loschmidt Chemist, atomic scientist Chemists understood the atomic structure of molecules in the 1800s, yet it is often said that Einstein established the existence of atoms in a paper on...
View ArticleMetacognition, then and now (a crisp example)
As a follow-on to recent posts here and here, I’d like to offer a crisp example of the standards of cognitive reflection that were taught in the once-upon-a-time United States: a sample from Studies in...
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Which came first, the Nano or the NNI?
A news article in this week’s Nature discusses the origin of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, but the story sets some of the causality in reverse. The story outlines how science advocacy at...
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Chemists deserve more credit (2): The 150th anniversary of the first...
In this week’s Chemical & Engineering News, the American Chemical Society marks the 150th anniversary of the world’s first scientific conference — yes, a chemistry conference — held Sept. 3, 1860,...
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Missing pieces: The lost history of how nanotechnology took hold in the world
My new book, Radical Abundance, is now (at last!) nearing release. It reframes prospects for atomically precise manufacturing (APM), exploring timeless physical principles, surprising progress, and...
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