Nanotechnology: the Coming Revolution
in Molecular Manufacturing

Preparing for nanotechnology

Introductions to Nanotechnology

For the General Reader

• Unbounding the Future provides a clear, nontechnical introduction to molecular manufacturing: what it is about, what it will make possible, and what are the dangers, as well as the opportunities, that will come with the development of nanotechnology. The entire book, with illustrations, is now available at this Web site. A book review is available on the Web.
• The first chapter of Engines of Creation presents the basic vision of nanotechnology as a fundamental revolution in technology. The entire book is available here.
• "Nanotechnology: From Concept to R&D Goal" (1995) Written by Foresight Executive Director Chris Peterson and presented here with the permission of the original publisher HotWired
• "It's a small, small, small, small world" (1997) Written by Foresight Board Member Ralph Merkle and published in MIT's Technology Review, provides a general introduction to nanotechnology. The original article is available on the Technology Review Web site. A longer and somewhat more technical version of the article is available on Ralph Merkle's nanotechnology Web site.
• A brief introduction to the core concepts of molecular nanotechnology is also available on Ralph Merkle's nanotechnology Web site.
• "The Challenge of Nanotechnology" is an introductory talk that Eric Drexler gave at a conference in 1989, and is available on a Web site that contains the conference proceedings.
• Prospects in Nanotechnology presents articles from the First General Conference on Nanotechnology, a conference held by the Foresight Institute to present the wider applications of nanotechnology to an audience primarily of non-researchers. This book can be bought at our online bookstore.

For the Technical Reader

• The earliest and still most thorough treatment of molecular nanotechnology is the text Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation, by K. Eric Drexler, which can be bought at our online bookstore.
• "Overview of Nanotechnology" Adapted by J. Storrs Hall from papers by Ralph C. Merkle and K. Eric Drexler, and available at the sci.nanotech archives.
• The key concept in the proposal that molecular nanotechnology will allow the fabrication of complex objects to atomic precision is positional control. Ralph Merkle has written and made available at his Web site the article "Molecular Manufacturing: Adding Positional Control to Chemical Synthesis."
• The key concept in molecular manufacturing that will allow inexpensive fabrication of all manufactured products is self replication. Ralph Merkle has written and made available at his Web site the article "Self replication and nanotechnology," which contains links to further information.
• Nanotechnology: Research and Perspectives is the proceedings of the First Foresight Conference on Nanotechnology, the first interdisciplinary technical conference on nanotechnology. This book can be bought at our online bookstore.

Foresight's Nanotechnology Bookstore

Technical Progress towards Molecular Manufacturing

Abstracts for Conference Talks and Posters

• The abstracts of the talks and posters to be presented this November at the Fifth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology provide a snapshot of current research in fields leading toward molecular manufacturing.
• Abstracts and other information from the March, 1996, NASA Ames Computational Molecular Nanotechnology Workshop can be accessed from the Web page for that conference.
• Abstracts and many full papers can be accessed from the Web page for the 1995 Fourth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.

Foresight Update "Recent Progress" columns

• Update 30: Applications, Foldamers, Enzyme Design and Analysis, Single Molecule Techniques
• Update 29: Components and Assembly Techniques, Novel Features, Protein Motors, Single Molecule Diagnostics, Single Electronics in Esprit, Abzymes
  
• Update 28: Advances in Parallel Techniques, Advances in Sequential Techniques, Catalytic Structures, Mechanochemistry
• Update 27: Advances in Proximal Probe Techniques, Towards Machine Phase Synthesis, Protein Design and Synthesis, DNA Technology, Fullerenes, Software
• Update 26: Supramolecular Chemistry
• Update 25: Molecular Components, Chemical Design Techniques, Modeling, Proximal Probes
• Update 24: Protein and Peptide Design, Catalytic Antibodies, A Protein/Polymer Actuator, Diagnostic Techniques, Larger Scale Components From Biological Systems, Ab Initio Calculations, Nanotube Advances, Scanning Probe Techniques, Nanometer Scale Particles
• Update 23: Scanning Tunneling Microscope Techniques, Single Electron Circuits, Biochemical Techniques, Crystal Growth, Computational Microscopy
• Update 22: Fabrication with Scanning Probes, Self-Assembled Systems, Analysis and Design Techniques, Applications, Instrumentation
• Update 21: Molecular Machinery Analysis, Molecular Motors, Protein Design and Synthesis, Organic Chemistry
• Update 20: Accessing atoms and molecules, Movies of molecules? Rotary engines in mitochondria, Peptide nanotubes

Future Applications of Nanotechnology

New material on nanotechnology in preparation...

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

We are constructing new sections to explore in detail the major aspects of nanotechnology:

Nanotechnology on the World Wide Web
History of the Nanotechnology Idea

• Nanotechnology and its application to Medicine, Space, Computers, Business and Economics, The Environment, National and World Security
• The basic concepts underlying the proposal for molecular manufacturing
• Progress in nanotechnology and enabling sciences and technologies
• Research and development programs in nanotechnology
• What's being said about nanotechnology
• Educational resources
• Nanotechnology on the World Wide Web
• Guided tours of nanotechnology for: students, the general public, entrepreneurs, policy makers, scientists, and engineers

In the interim...

• What is nanotechnology?
• The first journal article published on molecular nanotechnology: "Molecular engineering: An approach to the development of general capabilities for molecular manipulation," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 1981, is now available at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing web site.
• Technical discussion group: sci.nanotech
• Nanotechnology journal
• Technical book: Nanosystems: Molecular Machines, Manufacturing, and Computation
• The first and still the classic book on nanotechnology, Engines of Creation: the Coming Era of Nanotechnology, is now available in full text on the Web. It features an updated Afterword as well as a new Introduction written especially for the Web version.
• To order a hard copy of Nanosystems, Engines of Creation, and other nanotechnology books, fill out an order form.
• Molecular Modeling and other nanotechnology links
• Molecular Manufacturing Shortcut Group for space development
• Bibliography

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