Moore's Law valid after 2015 due to nanotechnology breakthrough

Santa Clara 21 Oct 99 The 1999 Feynman Prizes in nanotechnology were awarded this weekend to Phaedon Avouris of IBM for experimental work, and to a team led by William A. Goddard III at Caltech for theoretical work. Dr. Avouris, of the IBM T.J.Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, is a leader in the development of carbon nanotubes for potential computing device applications. This work is considered directly on the pathway to molecular-scale computation -- necessary for the computer industry to stay on the Moore's Law curve, which predicts atomic-level precision before 2015.

Professor William Goddard, Dr. Tahir Cagin, and Ms. Yue Qi shared the theory prize for their work in modelling the operation of molecular machine designs. Proposed designs for future molecular machine systems can be tested today on powerful supercomputers using sophisticated programmes that accurately model the laws of chemistry, giving us a clearer picture both of what works and what doesn't work. Goddard's group -- which operates out of the Materials and Process Simulation Center, Caltech, in Pasadena, CA -- does some of the most advanced modelling possible today.

The Prizes include a cash award of $5000 per team. They are named in honour of the late Nobel Prizewinning physicist Richard Feynman, whose 1959 talk "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" inspired many researchers to pursue the ultimate in miniaturization.

From nanostructured materials to biological motors, work on new nanoscale tools, devices, and designs were presented to an international audience of 300 in Silicon Valley this weekend at the Seventh Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology. Molecular nanotechnology is expected to enable atomic precision in fields ranging from medicine to manufacturing, extending lifespan and curing disease, and eliminating waste and chemical pollution.

Keynoted by Nobel Prizewinning chemist John Polanyi of the University of Toronto, the four-day meeting brought together representatives of nanoscale ventures in academia, national laboratories, Fortune 500 companies, and nanotechnology start-ups drawn from nearly twenty countries and five continents.

Attendees were treated to a field trip to NASA Ames where they were shown a simulation of Virtual MechanoSynthesis (VMS) in a real time 3D virtual environment.

Also presented at the meeting was the Foresight Distinguished Student Award, which went to Anita Goel, an MD/PhD candidate at the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and also a PhD candidate at Harvard's Physics Department. Ms. Goel was selected for her work on using optical and magnetic "tweezers" to probe the real time single molecule dynamics of motor enzymes "dancing on DNA".

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