Prof. Dr. George M. Whitesides, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Here you will find the Podcast (Empa-TV) of George M. Whitesides Speach.

Biography

The Harvard University researcher is one of today’s leading chemists. Thanks to his interest in micro- and nanotechnology, a great deal of progress in the development of new functional materials and in the «Life Sciences» has been made. George Whitesides was awarded numerous research prizes, among them the World Technology Award for Materials in 2001 and the Paracelsus Prize by the Swiss Chemical Society in 2004. He is member of quite a few scientific societies and National Academies. His current research interests include, to name but a few, physical and organic chemistry, materials and surface science, biophysics, micro-fluidics, self-assembly, science for developing economies and cell-surface biochemistry. In addition George Whitesides is investigating the origins of life and the emergence of complexity.

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology: A Portrait in Adolescence

Nanoscience and nanotechnology are words that are attracting great attention. Why? One answer is that they may provide ways of extending the range and lifetime of existing microtechnologies. A second is that nanoscience will lead to the discovery of new phenomena and new levels of understanding of nature, and that new science will lead to new technologies.

This talk will give a view of the current state of nanoscience and nanotechnology, and suggest ways in which nanotechnology – which can make and characterize very small things – and other areas such as energy, conservation, biology – in which nanoscale structures are central to the function – will interact with one another.