What Is Nanotechnology and Where Is the Field Today?

The history of nanotechnology.

An artist’s concept of the field of nanotechnology, showing a nanobot studying a virus virion. Source: K_E_N, via Shutterstock.

Nanotechnology is one of the things that got me interested in science as a young kid. But what is it? Most people vaguely know that it involves science and engineering at extremely small length scales. Science fiction fans might imagine the legion of tiny robots inside the body — fighting diseases and repairing cells to keep us healthy in ways our biology cannot. But what is nanotechnology to actual scientists and engineers working in the field? Where is the field today and how did we get here?

Defining Nanotechnology

So, let’s first define nanotechnology. This is surprisingly hard to do. Even to practitioners in the field, nanotechnology is a nebulous term and there still isn’t a standard agreed-upon definition. Unlike mature sciences such as physics or biology, that’s been around for thousands of years, nanotechnology only started being recognized as a science by the scientific community about 60 years ago. And today, in many ways, the field is still “trying to figure itself out”. However, most practitioners may agree on the following general definition:

Nanotechnology comprises of structures, devices, and systems having novel properties and functions due to their arrangement of atoms on the 1 to 100 nanometer…