Nanotechnology is a field of Research and Development that is 'new' as most people see it although the area has been under research for more than twenty years. As you can imagine, after that much time the field has grown HUGE. Be prepared for a lot of reading, or a little, depending on how much you really want to know about it. To give you an idea, this long uninviting page of text just gives you a few pointers on how to start your own research, without a lab.
So, Are you sure you want to know? Feeding all the world's hungry is a long task. Or maybe you just wanted that spaceship to get away for a weekend.
We start off with the basics. Back in 1959, Physicist Richard
Feynman gave a talk There's
Plenty of Room at the Bottom
. Here he covered a small area
of the basic idea that has got most nanotech researchers hooked, the
possibility to do something on a very small scale.
Feynman's idea was to store text and information, and maybe expand that to a few other things. In the late 1970's K. Eric Drexler working independently came up with a novel use of the new field of Genetic Engineering, the story of how he did this is told well in "Nano" by Ed Regis. You should be able to get a copy in a good Library. It is more of a history of the early research than nanotech content, but well worth a read.
Drexler's book "Engines of Creation" is next on our must read list. The theoretical 'model' of his ideas, this book has gone on to become a required text for any nanotech study. It is written for most people to understand and covers much of the field and its possibilities.
Although Drexler uses the term 'nanotech' is his book, he is most often referring to the specific subset of Nanotechnology which we now call MNT (Molecular Nanotechnology), the concept being to use molecules as discrete components in "nanomachines" or to use the technical term "assemblers". Where nanotech covers anything done on the nanometer scale, MNT refers more specifically to components of, or complete systems built on the nanometer scale to do some useful work at the same scale. Mostly the complete systems of MNT are considered capable of self-assembly, although this is not universally agreed as a requirement.
There are many 'nano' products available now (nanotubes and nanoparticles spring to mind immediately), but although they are nanometers in size they are more like steel beams and bricks than the precision gears and engines of MNT. More common are the 'nano' whatever's that have no connection at all with the realm of nanotechnology apart from the obvious that they are made of atoms.
For some really technical reading Drexler has produced another book "Nanosystems" where he covers his theories in great and precise detail.
Finished? Possibly. You have the basics now, but nanotechnology as you can probably tell is much more than just what we have covered. After all that time you have just spent reading you know enough to find out as much or as little more as you want. Here on this site we have some links to yet more reading, other useful sites and Nanotechnology Journals. I advise you to join up with one or more of the Journals to get regular updates on the field, to explore Drexler's Foresight.org, and to search the web yourself. Since the field is growing in public awareness the number of information sources has been increasing beyond my capability to keep up in my small collection of sources.
You can see from Drexler's work that for a good understanding you have to learn most of the physical sciences. Although you can shortcut this by specialising in one of the two main areas of Nanotech:
Both areas have a large portion of chemistry and materials engineering thrown in. The 'Dry' area is just as large if not as well explored yet as the genetics based 'wet' field. Most of MNT discussed here falls into this area, although there are some systems that are in the wet domain.
There are nanotech courses offered at a few Universities, those the sci.nanotech group know about are listed in FAQ Courses #4. The other FAQs have some interesting Q and A's you will need to know. Also there are a lot of research groups around the world. Just ask in the group (sci.nanotech) if you want to know where to find a lab near you.