| Thinking on nanotechnology took another
major leap forward with the publication in 1986 of a book called Engines
of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology by American physicist K.
Eric Drexler. It was with this book, in which Drexler proposes
the use of "molecular
machines," that the word "nanotechnology" was first used. Drexler suggested that if we could assemble single atoms at will, we would be able to create anything, and proposed molecular-scale "nanomachines" as tools that could be used to directly manipulate atoms. This approach is known as the bottom-up approach for the way it proposes assembling atoms and molecules at the nano level to create something larger. At that time, research was already being carried out in line with the bottom-up approach, but Drexler was able to raise awareness of this approach as being completely different from the top-down thinking of Feynman. However, the idea that one could "create anything" was disparaged as being more akin to alchemy than science, and the nano-sized robots, created through the bottom-up approach and, for example, injected into the bloodstream to attack cancer cells, were seen by many as mere fantasy. Nevertheless, Drexler himself went on to show that molecular-level bearings could in theory exist, and when a bearing with a similar mechanism to Drexler's proposed bearing was actually found working in the flagella of Salmonella bacteria, interest in the bottom-up approach was suddenly revived. The bottom-up nanotechnology approach proposed by Drexler is now regarded as a valid and important approach to feasible nano-level manufacturing. ♦Profile: K. Eric Drexler
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