In late 1959 and again in 1983 Nobel Laureate and Caltech physics professor Richard Feynman delivered talks entitled, respectively, There's Plenty of Room at the Botto and Infinitesimal Machines.[1],[2] Both offered questions and suggestions for research on what we now call "nanotechnology." By any name the subject matter was provocative and ahead of its time, so for many years these gems were not seen in the context of "real science" so much as novelties reflecting the rich, revered, idiosyncratic imagination for which Feynman was renownedand still is, almost two decades after his death. Even in 1983 Feynman himself said "There is no use for these machines, so I still don't understand why I'm fascinated by the question of making small machines...." Would that he had lived long enough to see the remarkable developments recounted in this book.
[1] Delivered before the American Physical Society, December 29, 1959, and transcript reprinted in Caltech's alumni magazine, Engineering & Science, February, 1960.
[2] R. Feynman, Infinitesimal Machinery, IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 2, no. 1 (March 1993), 414. Copyright 1993, IEEE. The article is an edited transcript of the 1983 talk and is reproduced with the kind permission of Carl and Michelle Feynman, and the IEEE.
Although it is located here as an epilogue to the other chapters, the 1983 talka seminar at Jet Propulsion Laboratorycould as easily have stood at the other end as the book's foreword. A few comments on its presence and position are therefore in order.
Foremost, reprinting Infinitesimal Machines makes available the edited text of a fascinating speech whose distribution and appreciation are only a small fraction of that accorded Feynman's celebrated 1959 Plenty of Room speech. That earlier visionand its exhortation to initiate research at microscale and belowis widely cited as the first public emergence of nanotechnology. The later talk, given and videotaped at JPL on February 23, 1983, was almost unknown beyond the fortunate attendees from the Caltech/JPL community until it was rediscovered, edited and published in 1993.[1],[2]
[1] Of the many people we have to thank for the lecture-to-article journey, a special debt is owed to Journal editor William Trimmer for discovering and pursuing the possibility and to Professor Steve Senturia, now retired from MIT, for yeoman editing that at once preserved both science and Feynman's charm. NB: the JPL lecture is not that sold under the title "Tiny Machines," a commercially distributed video of Feynman's 1984 talk at Esalen in Big Sur, California to an audience of artists and other non-scientists.
[2] An illuminating analysis of the role of the two speeches and associated articles can be found in Apostolic Succession by Chris Toumey, "Engineering and Science" LXVIII, 1/2, 2005, available at http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/EandS/Esarchive-frame.html.
Of course, any successor to Plenty of Room will unavoidably capture the attention of both the nano-community and Feynman fans. But, more specifically, the JPL talk sheds light on the ways of Feynman's thinking about things small, both mechanical and electronic, and the breadth of technology that his enthusiasms embraced. At the same time, because of skillful editing and "clean up" it preserves much of the Feynman personality and style that captivated students and researchers alike.
Feynman's interest in computing can be traced tothe World War II Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, where his application of innovative parallel computating methods tripled the throughput of arduous atomic bomb calculations perfomed by legions of calculation-punching staff who were the computers of the day. Fifteen years later at the time of Plenty of Room, computers were just transitioning to semiconductor technology, although vacuum tubes and even drum memory still remained much in use. By the time of his 1983 talk, the PC had arrived, Moore's law was being aggressively exercised, and Feynman's focus on computing had grown. Indeed Infinitesimal Machinery came in the middle of Feynman's year-long Caltech course "The Physics of Computation" which he taught with Carver Mead and John Hopfield. They had to hold it without him in 19811982, but with poor results, while Feynman battled cancer. His enthusiasm upon returning overcame their intention to abandon the course after the disastrous Feynmanless year. It was in this context that the JPL talk was given.[3]
[3] A deeper perspective of Feynman's involvement with computing can be found in Feynman and ComputationExploring the Limits of Computer, ed. Anthony J.G. Hey (Philadelphia: Perseus Books, 1999). This is a collection articles by Mead, Hopfield and other notables who worked with Feynman. It also includes several of Feynman's own articles.
Placing Infinitesimal Machines as the final chapter reflects a belief that readers will appreciate it far more having first delved into contemporary nanotechnology. Moreover, the imagination and scope of Feynman's discussion are fitting symbols of the rich treasure of articles in this volume.
In that light and in closing, it bears mention that by motivating, organizing and editing these papers, Lynn Foster has made a major contribution to the field. This is no surprise, of course, to those who have watched him regularly encourage a thoughtful awareness of nanotechnology, in contrast to the hype that has persisted since the late 1990s. Initially working regionally to create the first Trade Study on Nanotechnology, he went on to contribute to and organize conferences with a national reach. Between the covers of this collection Lynn has brought together diverse authoritative perspectives that reveal the dimensions of nanotechnology, all the while written to be widely accessible. For the reporter who needs to get up to speed quickly, the scientist suddenly confronted with a research-driven business issue, or simply an inquisitive citizen wondering about all this "nano-hoopla," this volume offers a ready reference that is at once untainted by hyperbole and yet readable. For this we all owe Lynn Foster no small thanks.
Michael Krieger, Caltech '63
Willenken Wilson Loh & Stris
