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Nanoscience and nanotechnology, the big challenge of the small

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The prestigious physicist Richard Feynman delivered in 1959 a lecture entitled "Deep down there are many places: the invitation to undertake a new field of physics" at the California Institute of Technology. Fifty years later, for the first time in the history of man, we are exercising the ability to handle the basic structures of all things. This engineering capacity of the components of the matter in nanoscale gives us new possibilities countless and unimaginable. Today we recognize that the future will be largely nano, that is, it will be conditioned by the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Nanos means dwarf in Greek. And the nano prefix is used to express a billion. According to this, the nanometer is one billion meters, a million times less than the millimeter. The nanometer is the approximate size of six carbon atoms or ten aligned hydrogen atoms. On this scale we have atoms and molecules, as well as the most basic biological systems. For example, the diameter of the double helix of the DNA molecule is 2 nm and the most common viruses have a diameter of less than 100 nm.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the atomic hypothesis was very rooted among scientists, but the instruments that man had in hands (as well as the wavelength of light) were too large to see the atoms themselves; according to some scientists, the field of atoms could only get the reason. However, since the 1980s, we have been able to build tools that allow us to see and touch atoms one by one (for example, the microscope of tunnels), and in this case lies largely the birth and development of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

However, for nanotechnology to advance, it is not enough to see and touch atoms and molecules. We should also know well the interactions and self-organization between atoms and molecules. In fact, the properties of the macroscopic and microscopic scale cannot be extrapolated to the nano scale. In nanoscale (between 0.1 and 100 nm), the conceptual framework is quantum mechanics, predominates the influence of surfaces and physical and chemical properties, unlike macro-scale, depend on size. For example, gold is not chemically active in macro-scale, while in nanoscale it can have enormous catalytic activity.

Nanoscience is based on observation and manipulation of atoms, miniaturization and the manufacture of nanoscale devices and, what is very important, on the self-organization of molecular and supramolecular structures. The most significant advances come from the combination of these three areas.

The current ability to structure the matter in nanoscale will bring us to molecular engineering, with nanorobots, nanorobots and nanorobots, which will act in a similar way to the macromolecules of molecular biology, the manufacture of custom materials, beyond what conventional chemistry has been able to offer, with a lower consumption of matter, energy and less waste. Nanotechnology will be one of the keys to sustainable development.

There seems to be no sector that does not benefit from nanotechnology. In electronics we will have faster computers, smaller electronic devices and new memory storage devices; buildings and vehicles can be sensorized; transport will be improved, increasing the performance of fuels and reducing the consumption and emissions of gases by lightening the materials; medicine can also have a remarkable effect: we will have more selective drugs, new therapies and better diagnostic tools.

Nanotechnology XXI. It will undoubtedly be one of the engines of economic growth of the twentieth century and one of the pillars of sustainability that will condition the future of humanity. Thus, the Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Basque Government has just launched the nanoBasque project, within the 2010 Science, Technology and Innovation Plan. NanoGUNE, a cooperative research center in nanosciences of the Basque Country, opened on January 30, is the fundamental pillar of the nanoBasque initiative. The NanoGUNE research centre was born with the aim of carrying out a research of world excellence in nanoscience and nanotechnology and of creating a solid knowledge community, transferring the results of research in nanoscience to the Basque industrial fabric and improving the competitiveness of the Basque industrial fabric, as well as increasing the economic growth of Euskal Herria. Today, in nanoGUNE we have partnered with the research areas of nanomagnetism, nanooptics, self-assembly, nanobiotechnology and nanodevices.

Finally, I will say that one of the challenges of nanoGUNE is the socialization of scientific knowledge. In this sense, together with the Donostia International Physics Center, we will celebrate from 28 to 30 September in the Kursaal of San Sebastian the event called AtombyAtom. Prestigious leading researchers (three Nobel Laureates, among others) who have played and are playing a fundamental role in the birth and development of nanoscience, will give for the afternoons conferences in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology, aimed at society as a whole. These afternoon sessions will be able to attend all people enrolled in atombyatom.nanogune.eu.