Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation

by K. Eric Drexler

"Devices enormously smaller than before will remodel engineering, chemistry, medicine, and computer technology. How can we understand machines that are so small? Nanosystems covers it all: power and strength, friction and wear, thermal noise and quantum uncertainty. This is the book for starting the next century of engineering." - Marvin Minsky MIT Science magazine calls Eric Drexler "Mr. Nanotechnology." For years, Drexler has stirred controversy by declaring that molecular nanotechnology will bring a sweeping technological revolution - delivering tremendous advances in miniaturization, materials, computers, and manufacturing of all kinds. Now, he's written a detailed, top-to-bottom analysis of molecular machinery - how to design it, how to analyze it, and how to build it. Nanosystems is the first scientifically detailed description of developments that will revolutionize most of the industrial processes and products currently in use. This groundbreaking work draws on physics and chemistry to establish basic concepts and analytical tools. The book then describes nanomechanical components, devices, and systems, including parallel computers able to execute 1020 instructions per second and desktop molecular manufacturing systems able to make such products. Via chemical and biochemical techniques, proximal probe instruments, and software for computer-aided molecular design, the book charts a path from present laboratory capabilities to advanced molecular manufacturing. Bringing together physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and computer science, Nanosystems provides an indispensable introduction to the emerging field of molecular nanotechnology.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Biology, Computer Science, Reference

576 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 1992

About the author

K. Eric Drexler, Ph.D., is a researcher and author whose work focuses on advanced nanotechnologies and directions for current research. His 1981 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences established fundamental principles of molecular design, protein engineering, and productive nanosystems. Drexler’s research in this field has been the basis for numerous journal articles and for books including Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology (written for a general audience) and Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation (a quantitative, physics-based analysis). He recently served as Chief Technical Consultant to the Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems, a project of the Battelle Memorial Institute and its participating US National Laboratories. He is currently working in a collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund to explore nanotechnology-based solutions to global problems such as energy and climate change.

Drexler was awarded a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Molecular Nanotechnology (the first degree of its kind; his dissertation was a draft of Nanosystems). Dr. Drexler is currently (2012) an academic visitor at Oxford University. He consults and speaks on how current research can be directed more effectively toward high-payoff objectives, and addresses the implications of emerging technologies for our future, including their use to solve, rather than delay, large-scale problems such as global warming.

Reviews

[Marco Bitetto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most well credited work of Dr. Eric Drexler, the father of nano-technology.
His book saw the beginnings of a whole new technology that was based upon a whole new
science. This book is extremely well written and understandable.

[Joe Raimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important fist text in understand nanosystems.