Sensing the importance of nanosensors: Feynman's visionary 1959 Christmas lecture

Abstract

Just after Christmas 1959, R. Feynman delivered a nowfamous talk – titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” – at the California Institute of Technology [6]. Could it be possible, he asked, for scientists to assemble new materials at the level of single atoms and molecules, where there are “new kinds of forces and new kinds of possibilities, new kinds of effects”? It’s generally accepted that Feynman’s visionary discussion of the problems and promise of miniaturisation constituted the starting point for the new field that today is called nanotechnology. What could Feynman say about the realization of his predictions at present? Nanotechnology undoubtedly will have applications in medicine, electronics and chemistry. Nanostructures are used within the EU Integration Project SENSATION, which is aimed “to explore a wide range of microand nanosensor technologies” for “monitoring, detection and prediction of human physiological state in relation to sleep and awakefullness, fatigue and stress” [9]. Nanoparticles are unique tools as sensors. First, they are larger than typical molecules yet smaller than viruses. They are similar in size to many proteins. This is part of the reason they can operate well inside cells. Second,nanosensors possess unique physical characteristics. They deliver sensitivity orders of magnitude better than conventional devices and provide such performance advantages as fast response time and portability. For example, nanoshells [7] and nanorice [12] are Vorahnung der Bedeutung von Nanosensoren: Der visionare 1959 Weihnachtsvortrag von Feynman