Richard P. Feynman
(1918-1988) |
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2009 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize
Submissions/nominations were due June 30, 2009
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Winners of the 2009 Feynman Prizes in Nanotechnology
Palo Alto, CA —October 6, 2009 – The Foresight Institute, a nanotechnology education and public policy think tank based in Palo Alto, has announced the winners of the prestigious 2009 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes in Nanotechnology.
Established in 1993 in honor of Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman, two $5,000 prizes are awarded in two categories, theory and experiment, to recognize researchers whose recent work has most advanced the field toward the achievement of Feynman's vision for nanotechnology: molecular manufacturing, the construction of atomically-precise products through the use of molecular machine systems.
The winner of the 2009 Feynman Prize for Experimental work is the team of Yoshiaki Sugimoto, Masayuki Abe (Osaka University), and Oscar Custance (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan), in recognition of their pioneering experimental demonstrations of mechanosynthesis, specifically the use of atomic resolution dynamic force microscopy — also known as non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) — for vertical and lateral manipulation of single atoms on semiconductor surfaces. Their work, published in Nature, Science, and other prestigious scientific journals, has demonstrated a level of control over the ability to identify and position atoms on surfaces at room temperature which opens up new possibilities for the manufacture of atomically precise structures.
The winner of the 2009 Feynman Prize for Theory is Robert A. Freitas Jr. (Institute for Molecular Manufacturing), in recognition of his pioneering theoretical work in mechanosynthesis in which he proposed specific molecular tools and analyzed them using ab initio quantum chemistry to validate their ability to build complex molecular structures. This Prize also recognizes his previous work in systems design of molecular machines, including replicating molecular manufacturing systems, which should eventually be able to make large atomically precise products economically, and the design of medical nanodevices, which should eventually revolutionize medicine.
"What once seemed like a distant vision when it was first outlined by Feynman in 1959 — a new manufacturing technology able to arrange the very atoms that are the fundamental building blocks of matter — has come a step closer to reality," said J. Storrs Hall, President of Foresight Institute. "This is no small thing, for all manufactured products are made from atoms — and if we can better control how those atoms are arranged we can make fundamentally better products. Products that are remarkably light, strong, smart, green, and cheap. Molecular manufacturing will dwarf the Industrial Revolution."
The Feynman Prizes were awarded at Foresight 2010: the Synergy of Molecular Manufacturing and AGI, January 16-17, 2010, Palo Alto, California. Video of Prize presentation
2009 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize for Theoretical and Experimental Molecular Nanotechnology
Two prizes in the amount of $5,000 each will be awarded to the researchers whose recent work has most advanced the achievement of Feynman's goal for nanotechnology: molecular manufacturing, defined as the construction of atomically-precise products through the use of molecular machine systems. Separate prizes will be awarded for theoretical work and for experimental work.
This prize is given in honor of Richard P. Feynman who, in 1959, gave a visionary talk at Caltech in which he said "The problems of chemistry and biology can be greatly helped if our ability to see what we are doing, and to do things on an atomic level, is ultimately developed — a development which I think cannot be avoided."
Selection Committee for the 2009 Prizes
The Feynman Prize selection committee for 2009 includes:
- James Gimzewski, UCLA
- William Goddard III, Caltech
- Hod Lipson, Cornell
- Ralph Merkle, IMM
- Philip Moriarty, U. Nottingham
- Charles Musgrave, U. Colorado
- Nadrian Seeman, NYU
- David Sherrill, Georgia Tech
- Deepak Srivastava, NASA
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