Nanotechnology

I appreciate the opportunity today to present my views on nanotechnology. There is a growing sense in the scientific and technical community that we are about to enter a golden new era. We are about to be able to build things that work on the smallest possible length scales, atom by atom with the ultimate level of finesse. These little nanothings, and the technology that assembles and manipulates them -- nanotechnology -- will revolutionize our industries, and our lives.

Everything we see around us is made of atoms, the tiny elemental building blocks of matter. From stone, to copper, to bronze, iron, steel, and now silicon, the major technological ages of humankind have been defined by what these atoms can do in huge aggregates, trillions upon trillions of atoms at a time, molded, shaped, and refined as macroscopic objects. Even in our vaunted microelectronics of 1999, in our highest-tech silicon computer chip the smallest feature is a mountain compared to the size of a single atom. The resultant technology of our 20th century is fantastic, but it pales when compared to what will be possible when we learn to build things at the ultimate level of control, one atom at a time.

Nature has played the game at this level for billions of years, building stuff with atomic precision. Every living thing is made of cells that are chock full of nanomachines - proteins, DNA, RNA, etc.- each jiggling around in the water of the cell, rubbing up against other molecules, going about the business of life. Each one is perfect right down to the last atom. The workings are so exquisite that changing the location or identity of any atom would cause damage. Over the past century we have learned about the workings of these biological nanomachines to an incredible level of detail, and the benefits of this knowledge are beginning to be felt in medicine. In coming decades we will learn to modify and adapt this machinery to extend the quality and length of life. Biotechnology was the first nanotechnology, and it has a long way yet to go.

Let me give you just one, personal, example: cancer. I sit before you today with very little hair on my head. It fell out a few weeks ago as a result of the chemotherapy I've been undergoing to treat a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - the same sort that recently killed King Hussein of Jordan. While I am very optimistic, this chemotherapy is a very blunt tool. It consists of small molecules which are toxic - they kill cells in my body. Although they are meant to kill only the cancer cells, they kill hair cells too, and cause all sorts of other havoc.

Now, I'm not complaining. Twenty years ago, without even this crude chemotherapy I would already be dead. But twenty years from now, I am confident we will no longer have to use this blunt tool. By then nanotechnology will have given us specially engineered drugs which are nanoscale cancer-seeking missiles, a molecular technology that specifically targets just the mutant cancer cells in the human body, and leaves everything else blissfully alone. To do this these drug molecules will have to be big enough - thousands of atoms -- so that we can code the information into them of where they should go and what they should kill. They will be examples of an exquisite, human-made nanotechnology of the future. I may not live to see it. But, with your help, I am confident it will happen. Cancer - at least the type that I have - will be a thing of the past.

Powerful as it will be, this bio-side of nanotechnology that works in the water-based world of living things will not be able to do everything. It cannot make things strong like steel or conduct electricity with the speed and efficiency of copper or silicon. For this, other nanotechnologies will be developed - what I call the "dry side" of nanotech. My own research these days is focused on carbon nanotubes - an outgrowth of the research that led to the Nobel Prize a few years ago. These nanotubes are incredible. They are expected to produce fibers 100 times stronger than steel at only 1/6th the weight - almost certainly the strongest fibers that will ever be made out of anything. In addition they will conduct electricity better than copper. Membranes made from arrays of these nanotubes are expected to have revolutionary impact in the technology of rechargeable batteries and fuel cells, perhaps giving us all-electric vehicles within the next 10-20 years with the performance and range of a Corvette at a fraction of the cost.

As individual nanoscale molecules, carbon nanotubes are unique. They have been shown to be true molecular wires, and have already been assembled into the first single molecule transistor ever built. Several decades from now we may see our current silicon-based microelectronics supplanted by a carbon-based nanoelectronics of vastly greater power and scope.

It's amazing what one can do just by putting atoms where you want them to go.

Recently an Interagency Working Group on Nano Science, Engineering and Technology (IWGN) has studied the field of nanotechnology in detail, and made its recommendation to OSTP (March 10, 1999) for a new national initiative in this critical emerging area. Quoting from Mike Roco, chair of the IWGN:

"A national initiative, 'Nanotechnology for the Twenty-First Century: Leading to a New Industrial Revolution' is recommended as part of the fiscal year 2001 budget. The initiative will support long-term nanotechnology research and development, which will lead to breakthroughs in information technology, advanced manufacturing, medicine and health, environment and energy, and national security. The impact of nanotechnology on the health, wealth, and lives of people will be at least the equivalent of the combined influences of microelectronics, medical imaging, computer-aided engineering and man-made polymers developed in this century. The proposed level of additional annual funding doubles (by $260M) the current level of effort, incrementally increased over three years. This initiative will focus on fundamental research on novel phenomena, processes and tools; synthesis and processing by design; nanostructured devices, materials and systems that are high-risk, broadly-enabling and are designed to have major impact; as well as on education and training of future nanotechnology workers and rapid knowledge and technology transfer."

Mr. Chairman, Honorable Congressmen, I believe it is in our Nation's best interest to move boldly into this new field.

As additional background material, the following is excerpted from "Nanotechnology - A Revolution in the Making -- Vision for R&D in the Next Decade," a report of the Interagency Working Group on Nanoscience, Engineering, and Technology, presented to the OSTP Committee on Technology,