Редактирование: Molecular Manufacturing (раздел)

= History =

The origins of nanotechnology, whether 'normal nanotechnology' or Molecular Nanotechnology, are often linked to Richard Feynman's historic 1959 lecture, ''[[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]]'', but the origins can be traced further back. Colin Milburn in his book ''Nanovision'', for example, correctly argues that Feynman 'merely' articulated existing ideas in the science fiction of the time.

Feynman's path to nanotechnology consisted on having remotely controlled arms building smaller ones, successively until the nanoscale. The closest parallel to this idea is Robert Heinlein's 1942 ''Waldo'', in which a homonymous robot does this until its copies are small enough to perform sub-cellular surgery<ref>''Waldo (short story)''. '''Wikipedia'''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_(short_story)#The_waldo Link].</ref>. A coworker at Caltech's JPL, Al Hibbs, had read the story and even filed a patent application for the use of waldoes in space exploration. He talked it over with Feynman and 'delighted' him with the notion of miniature surgical robots.<ref>Ed Regis. ''Nano: The Emerging Science of Nanotechnology''. June 1995.</ref>

[[File:Bush_and_Von_Ehr.jpg|thumb|[[James von Ehr]] was invited to the Oval Office as President Bush signed the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, on December 3, 2003; officially starting the National Nanotechnology Initiative.]]