For me the field of nanotechnology was
born on December twenty-ninth 1959
when Richard Feynman in his visionary speech, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"
asked what would happen if we can arrange
the atoms, one by one, the way we want
them? But there were some big hurdles to
get over before we could answer that
question because we didn't have the tools
to make, measure, or model things at the
nanoscale. It took about three decades for
these tools to catch up with Feynman's
vision. But finally in the nineteen
nineties innovations such as scanning
probe microscopy dramatically expanded
our understanding control of the
nanoworld, but the tools were expensive
and the skills needed to make progress
cut across many disciplines. It became
apparent that success would require a
different national scale approached to R&D
that new approach became the National
Nanotechnology Initiative announced by
President Clinton in January 2000. So after all this time do we
still need the NNI? For me the answer
is a resounding yes because future
breakthroughs will continue to transcend
disciplines and a national initiative is
a proven strategy for breaking down
barriers to collaboration. Nanotechnology
R&D requires expensive infrastructure
that's best shared. Paying for it grant
by grant doesn't work and lastly other
countries are working hard to advance
the field and ultimately claim its
benefits. Continuing the NNI will
Telegraph to the world that the u.s.
means business when it comes to
nanotechnology
(music)
