Abstract
Thirty years ago this week, scientists turned science fiction into science. By picking up one atom at a time and using a handful to draw the letters I, B, and M on a solid surface, researchers at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, showed that controlling matter at the atomic scale wasn’t a futuristic dream; it was real, and it was here, and it was now. For 22 h over Nov. 9 and 10, 1989, Donald M. Eigler and Erhard K. Schweizer used the ultrasharp tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to pick up 35 xenon atoms and spell IBM in 5 nm tall letters on a cold nickel surface (shown). By the end of the experiment, the IBM team recorded a microscope image of the masterpiece—published several months later (Nature 1990, DOI: 10.1038/344524a0)—that created a scientific sensation and was displayed in newspapers around the globe. “The
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