Nanotechnology Time Line
1931 Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll build the first Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) [1]. See chapter 4, section 4.4.6
1959 Lecture by Richard Feynman entitled “There is plenty of room at the bottom, an invitation to enter a new field of physics” [2]. In it he said:
“…I am not afraid to consider the final question as to whether, ultimately-in the great future-we can arrange the atoms the way we want; the very atoms, all the way down! What would happen if we could arrange the atoms one by one the way we want them….” See chapter 4 section 4.4.2
1968 Development of Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) by Arthur and Cho that enables materials to be grown an atomic layer at a time.
1974 N. Taniguchi generally credited for using the word ‘Nanotechnology’ for the first time [3].
1981 Development of Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) by Rohrer and Binnig enables atomic resolution images of surfaces [4]. See chapter 4, section 4.4.1.
1985 Discovery of C60 and other fullerenes by Harry Kroto, Richard Smalley and Robert Curl, Jr. [5]. See chapter 3, section 3.2.
