Charles Musgrave , Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT and winner of the 1993 Feynman Prize. Nils Nilsson , professor of computer science at Stanford's Robotics Laboratory. Heinrich Rohrer of IBM Zurich, Nobel Laureate in Physics. George M. Whitesides , professor of chemistry at Harvard. Molecular Manufacturing Detailed by Foresight Conference Speakers by Lewis M. Phelps Much remains to be accomplished before molecular manufacturing becomes reality, but computer simulation and laboratory experiments are moving steadily in that direction.
Challenges abound, but no insurmountable barriers have materialized as research continues.
That summarizes the view observers drew from technical presentations and policy discussions about molecular nanotechnology at the Fourth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology . More than 300 people drawn from 16 countries participated in the conference. Conference chair Ralph Merkle told Update at the end of the conference that the tone of this year's event differed substantially from previous years. That means very bright and highly regarded senior people have joined the discussion. Some two dozen technical topics, plus other policy, business, legal and economic aspects of nanotechnology were addressed during the conference.