Historical Context of Nanotechnologies

Anticipating the future societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology is predicated on a clear, coherent, and comprehensive understanding of its historical and social context. Historians and other scholars have studied the interplay science, technology, and society for decades, accumulating a complex array of empirical evidence and theoretical frameworks with which to interpret it. Our Working Group – comprised of Patrick McCray, Cyrus Mody, Hyungsub Choi and new CNS Graduate Student Fellow Summer Gray – is using this knowledge and undertaking a diverse array of research to develop a rich understanding the past and current landscape of the nano-enterprise.

Specific examples of research we are currently engaged in at the CNS-UCSB include: 

Nanoelectronics: One of the areas of nano-research that appears most exciting to scientists, commercial firms, and government patrons is the development and implementation of nanoelectronics as a replacement for systems based on microelectronics. Moreover, the potential development of nanoelectronics was an important stimulant for government and corporate support for nanotechnologies in general. As a case study of nanotech R&D, we are looking at a relatively new area of nanoelectronics research known as “spintronics.” We are addressing this in a number of ways: mapping the spintronics community in terms of researchers and institutions; interviewing key people in this field; and framing the development of nanoelectronics in the broader context of industry road maps for the semiconductor industry.

Nanotechnology Oral Histories: The nano-enterprise, like almost all 21st-century techno-scientific endeavors, relies on communications that are ephemeral in nature (web-published reports, e-mail, etc.). One way to collect historical data and understand the nature of the nano-enterprise is by carrying out oral history interviews. These help understand people’s career paths and their participation in important research activities and policy decisions. A primary goal of our oral history project is to ensure that the recollections and experiences of people actively involved in a multitude of facets regarding nanotechnology are recorded so as to understand the nano-enterprise and before such recollections are lost or distorted.  Thus far, we have interviewed over two dozen people who played key roles in some facet of the nano-enterprise. As these interviews are completed, they are posted to the CNS-UCSB web site for use by the broader scholarly community.

Nanoscale Research and Interdisciplinarity: The National Science Foundation’s vision for nanotechnology largely focuses on the creation of new institutions that will foster an interdisciplinary approach to nanoscale approach.  These Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers join a long line of interdisciplinary center programs at NSF, reaching back to the early 1970s, when the NSF inherited the Materials Research Laboratory from the Advanced Research Projects Agency.  Our work on this topic will produce a history of these NSF interdisciplinary centers and their role in the history of nanotechnology.  The project will also study more localized interdisciplinary institutions – such as conference series, journals, and locally-funded academic research centers – that have contributed to nanotechnology.  The ultimate aim of the project will be a better, more historicized assessment of how interdisciplinary actually affects research; how interdisciplinarity has affected the traditional disciplines; what role institutions play in fostering interdisciplinarity; and what role the NSF has played in the development of interdisciplinary nanoscale research.

Nanotechnology, Futurism, and the Public Imagination: The “standard model” for nanotechnology’s history begins with Richard Feynman’s 1959 speech, moves to the apostolic role of K. Eric Drexler, then to the development of the scanning tunneling microscope, and culminates with the passage of the NNI.  However, there is a continued need to move away from the limitations of this basic story toward a more complex and nuanced understanding of nanotechnology’s past and current context. Surely there are other “hidden histories" of nanotechnology. What are they and why have they not been visible?

Our research in this area begins with the premise that government and corporate policy is often presaged, even shaped by “futurist” works such as science-fiction and articles about tomorrow’s technologies in the general media. By examining the social movements, advocacy for, and public interest in other “futurist” technologies such as space exploration and nuclear power, we hope to develop a wider range of historical analogies with which to understand nanotechnology. Moreover, our research will explore the connections between public imagination and expectation – often rooted in fantasy, fiction, or popular presentations of science – that often provide a foundation for government and industry policies.

For a good and representative sample of articles, books, and other documents about the historical context of the nano-enterprise, see our 'top ten' reading list in the 'other documents ' section of our file repository.