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0:00
Welcome to the Henry Stewart
Talks series on nanomedicine.
I'm Richard Siegel,
the Robert W. Hunt
Professor of Material Science
and Engineering,
and director
of the Nanotechnology Center
at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, New York.
0:18
On the first slide, we see
that the ages of the world
are a history of materials,
the Stone Age,
the Bronze Age, the Iron Age.
In the 19th century,
as the industrial
revolution began
and one learned
to add carbon to iron
and produce steel
of various types,
steel dominated that century
and the icons of that century,
from the railroad during
the middle of the century,
to the icons of the end
of the century
in the Brooklyn Bridge,
the Eiffel Tower,
and the Ferris wheel.
In the 20th century,
the rapid advance of science
and the needs
of the world developed
three different classes
of materials
which dominated that century,
and continue to dominate
our lives today.
Plastics in the early
part of the century
needed to replace the natural
polymers of rubber and silk,
that were no longer available
during the war-time periods.
In the middle of the century,
silicon in its highest
purity forms,
which was needed to create
the world of computers
that we depend upon today,
and finally,
nanomaterials in the latter
part of the 20th century,
which we'll talk about today.
1:39
On the next slide,
we see the background
to the formation
of nanomaterials
and the interest
that they have generated
through the convergence
of the three major branches
of science that underlie them.
The world of condensed
matter of physics
was through the latter part
of the 20th century
starting to focus
on smaller and smaller objects
down into the nanoscale.
The world of biology
transformed dramatically
by the onset
of molecular biology,
was also working
its way down in size
from cell biology to molecular
biology to functional design.
The world of chemistry,
starting with atoms
and smaller molecules,
working up the scale
into the nanoscale
to polymer chemistry,
complex chemistry
and supramolecular chemistry.
There was a convergence
in the latter part
of the 20th century that
allowed us to start thinking
about the integrated use
of physical laws,
biological principles
and chemical properties
going forward
in making new materials.
