Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[tantal]

Dude, nanotechnology started about 200 years ago, when what's his name (was it Dalton or the electrochemist) made the first gold colloids. Colloid science is quite old, but it's only recently that people have been trying to do wacky new things with it. Part of it is the great strides in analytical science in the last few decades. Techniques like TEM and AFM are just indispensible, and don't forget the dramatically greater speed and accuracy, and much lower cost of analytical instruments these days. 40 years ago, an X-ray crystallographic data set that would take weeks to obtain using film detection could be acquired in hours using a CCD detector commonly available now. Lots has changed to make things possible now that weren't before, having nothing to do with the core of what is, um, nanotechnology.

You're totally right, though, nano is a buzzword, and wacko's like Ralph Merkle just make the situation worse. You're also right about people not knowing their fields. It's laziness, but also, there are a lot of older, experienced people who ignore the history of their fields in order to make a greater impact with their latest research results, and it deeply sickens me.

sign of the times. sell, sell, sell.