Editing There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom

{{Short description|1959 lecture by Richard Feynman}}
[[File:Miniaturization.jpg|thumb|''Miniaturization'' (publ. 1961) included  Feynman's lecture as its final chapter]]
"'''There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics'''" was a lecture given by physicist [[Richard Feynman]] at the annual [[American Physical Society]] meeting at [[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]] on December 29, 1959.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://metamodern.com/2009/12/29/theres-plenty-of-room-at-the-bottom%E2%80%9D-feynman-1959/ | title = There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom | last = Drexler | first = Eric | access-date = 2011-12-29 | archive-date = 2016-12-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161226131619/http://metamodern.com/2009/12/29/theres-plenty-of-room-at-the-bottom%E2%80%9D-feynman-1959/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>  Feynman considered the possibility of direct manipulation of individual atoms as a more robust form of synthetic chemistry than those used at the time. Versions of the talk were reprinted in a few popular magazines, but it went largely unnoticed until the 1980s.

The title references the popular quote ''"There is always room at the top."'' attributed to [[Daniel Webster]] (who is thought to have said this phrase in response to warnings against becoming a lawyer, which was seen as an oversaturated field in the 19th century).

==Conception==
Feynman considered some ramifications of a general ability to manipulate matter on an atomic scale. He was particularly interested in the possibilities of denser [[computer]] circuitry and [[microscope]]s that could see things much smaller than is possible with [[scanning electron microscope]]s. These ideas were later realized by the use of the [[scanning tunneling microscope]], the [[atomic force microscope]] and other examples of [[scanning probe microscopy]] and storage systems such as [[IBM Millipede|Millipede]].

Feynman also suggested that it should be possible, in principle, to make [[nanobots|nanoscale machines]] that "arrange the atoms the way we want" and do chemical synthesis by mechanical manipulation.<ref name=room>Feynman, Richard P. (1959) [https://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]. zyvex.com</ref>

He also presented the possibility of "[[Molecular machine#Biological|swallowing the doctor]]", an idea that he credited in the essay to his friend and graduate student [[Albert Hibbs]]. This concept involved building a tiny, swallowable surgical robot.<ref name=room/>

As a thought experiment, he proposed developing a set of one-quarter-scale [[remote manipulator|manipulator hands]] controlled by the hands of a human operator, to build one-quarter scale machine tools analogous to those found in any machine shop. This set of small tools would then be used by the small hands to build and operate ten sets of one-sixteenth-scale hands and tools, and so forth, culminating in perhaps a billion tiny factories to achieve [[massively parallel]] operations. He uses the analogy of a [[pantograph]] as a way of scaling down items. This idea was anticipated in part, down to the microscale, by science fiction author [[Robert A. Heinlein]] in his 1942 story ''[[Waldo (short story)|Waldo]]''.<ref name=Milburn>Milburn, Colin (2008). ''Nanovision: Engineering the Future''. Duke University Press. p. 48. {{ISBN|0-8223-4265-0}}</ref>

As the sizes got smaller, one would have to redesign tools because the relative strength of various forces would change. [[Gravity]] would become less important, and [[Van der Waals force]]s such as surface tension would become more important. Feynman mentioned these scaling issues during his talk. Nobody has yet attempted to implement this thought experiment; some types of biological [[enzymes]] and enzyme complexes (especially [[ribosomes]]) function chemically in a way close to Feynman's vision.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=11283358 |doi=10.1126/science.1060089 |volume=292 |issue=5518 |title=Crystal structure of the ribosome at 5.5 A resolution |date=May 2001 |journal=Science |pages=883–96 |vauthors=Yusupov MM, Yusupova GZ, Baucom A, etal |bibcode=2001Sci...292..883Y |s2cid=39505192 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Feynman also mentioned in his lecture that it might be better eventually to use glass or plastic because their greater uniformity would avoid problems in the very small scale (metals and crystals are separated into domains where the lattice structure prevails).<ref>{{cite book|isbn=0-7382-0108-1|title=The Pleasure of Finding Things Out|chapter= Ch. 5: There's Plenty of Room at The Bottom| editor1= Feynman, Michele |editor2=Feynman, Carl|page=130|publisher= Basic Books|year= 1999}}</ref> This could be a good reason to make machines and electronics out of glass and plastic. At present, there are electronic components made of both materials. In glass, there are [[optical fiber]] cables that carry and amplify light.<ref name="Tutorial on Fiber Amplifiers">{{cite web| last=Paschotta| first=Rüdiger| title=Tutorial on Fiber Amplifiers| url=http://www.rp-photonics.com/tutorial_fiber_amplifiers.html| publisher=RP Photonics| access-date=10 October 2013| archive-date=17 October 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017191402/http://www.rp-photonics.com/tutorial_fiber_amplifiers.html| url-status=live}}</ref>  In plastic, [[field effect transistors]] are being made with polymers, such as [[polythiophene]] that becomes an electrical conductor when oxidized.<ref>Heeger, Alan J. (2016) ''Never Lose Your Nerve!'', World Scientific, p. 167. {{ISBN|9814704857}}</ref>

==Challenges==
At the meeting Feynman concluded his talk with two challenges, and offered a prize of $1000 for the first to solve each one. The first challenge involved the construction of a [[nanomotor|tiny motor]], which, to Feynman's surprise, was achieved by November 1960 by Caltech graduate [[William McLellan (American electrical engineer)|William McLellan]], a meticulous craftsman, using conventional tools.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/207/1/themonth.pdf|title=The World's Smallest Motor|date=December 1960|work=Engineering and Science|access-date=2018-07-22|page=19|archive-date=2018-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723122517/http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/207/1/themonth.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The motor met the conditions, but did not advance the field. The second challenge involved the possibility of scaling down letters small enough so as to be able to fit the entire ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' on the head of a pin, by writing the information from a book page on a surface 1/25,000 smaller in linear scale. In 1985, [[Tom Newman (scientist)|Tom Newman]], a Stanford graduate student, successfully reduced the first paragraph of ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' by 1/25,000, and collected the second Feynman prize.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/404585707/|title=Small Wonder|date=July 30, 1986|page=26|work=The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California on Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-07-23|archive-date=2018-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723212510/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/404585707/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Richard Phillips |last1=Feynman |first2=Christopher |last2=Sykes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HxzLaPYo2IC&pg=PA175 |title=No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman] |page=175 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1995 |isbn=9780393313932 |access-date=2016-04-04 |archive-date=2021-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213193007/https://books.google.com/books?id=1HxzLaPYo2IC&pg=PA175 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gribbin |first=John |title=Richard Feynman: A Life in Science |url=https://archive.org/details/richardfeynmanli00grib |url-access=registration |publisher=Dutton |year=1997 |page=[https://archive.org/details/richardfeynmanli00grib/page/170 170]|isbn=9780525941248 }}</ref> Newman's thesis adviser, [[R. Fabian Pease]], had read the paper in 1966, but it was another graduate student in the lab, Ken Polasko, who had recently read it who suggested attempting the challenge. Newman was looking for an arbitrary random pattern to demonstrate their technology. Newman said, "Text was ideal because it has so many different shapes."<ref name="TinyTale">{{Cite news|url=http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3479/1/Tale.pdf|title=Tiny ''Tale'' Gets Grand|date=January 1986|work=Engineering & Science|access-date=2018-07-23|pages=24–26|archive-date=2018-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724002306/http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3479/1/Tale.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Reception==
''[[New Scientist|The New Scientist]]'' reported "the scientific audience was captivated." Feynman had "spun the idea off the top of his mind" without even "notes from beforehand". There were no copies of the speech available. A "foresighted admirer" brought a tape recorder and an edited transcript, without Feynman's jokes, was made for publication by Caltech.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_zBbRPOil4C&q=Feynman&pg=PA220|title=A staggering small world|last=Lear|first=John|date=21 July 1960|work=The New Scientist|access-date=2018-07-22|page=220|archive-date=2022-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304124326/https://books.google.com/books?id=G_zBbRPOil4C&q=Feynman&pg=PA220|url-status=live}}</ref> In February 1960, Caltech's ''Engineering and Science'' published the speech. In addition to excerpts in ''The New Scientist'', versions were printed in ''[[Saturday Review (U.S. magazine)|The Saturday Review]]'' and ''[[Popular Science]]''. Newspapers announced the winning of the first challenge.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/38978614/|title=Midget Motor Wins $1,000 Prize for Engineer|date=November 30, 1960|page=25|work=The Times from San Mateo, California on Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-07-23|archive-date=2018-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723212453/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/38978614/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/56727530/|title=World's Smallest Motor|date=January 12, 1961|page=27|work=The Pocono Record from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-07-23|archive-date=2018-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724032114/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/56727530/|url-status=live}}</ref> The lecture was included as the final chapter in the 1961 book, ''Miniaturization''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/books/pages/g/HoraceDGilbert.htm |title=Book reviews Miniaturization. 1961 |first=Susan |last=Stepney |publisher=University of York |access-date=December 28, 2019 |archive-date=December 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228082622/https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/books/pages/g/HoraceDGilbert.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Impact==
{{See also|History of nanotechnology}}
[[K. Eric Drexler]] later took the Feynman concept of a billion tiny factories and added the idea that they could make more copies of themselves, via computer control instead of control by a human operator, in his 1986 book ''[[Engines of Creation|Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology]]''.<ref>Drexler, K. Eric (1986) ''[[Engines of Creation]]''. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 55, 63. {{ISBN|0385199732}}</ref>

After Feynman's death, scholars studying the historical development of [[nanotechnology]] have concluded that his role in catalyzing nanotechnology research was not highly rated by many people active in the nascent field in the 1980s and 1990s. Chris Toumey, a cultural anthropologist at the University of South Carolina, has reconstructed the history of the publication and republication of Feynman's talk, along with the record of citations to "Plenty of Room" in the scientific literature.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Toumey |first1=Chris |title=Apostolic Succession |journal=Engineering & Science |volume=1 |issue=2005 |pages=16–23 |url=http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/706/2/Succession.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301163143/http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/706/2/Succession.pdf |archive-date=2019-03-01}}</ref>

In Toumey's 2008 article "Reading Feynman into Nanotechnology",<ref name=toumey>{{cite journal |last1=Toumey |first1=Chris |title=Reading Feynman into Nanotechnology: A Text for a New Science |journal=Techné |date=2008 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=133–168 |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v12n3/pdf/toumey.pdf |access-date=1 March 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522094726/https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v12n3/pdf/toumey.pdf |archive-date=2018-05-22}}</ref> he found 11 versions of the publication of "Plenty of Room", plus two instances of a closely related talk by Feynman, "Infinitesimal Machinery",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Feynman |first1=R. |title=Infinitesimal machinery |journal=[[Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems]] |date=March 1993 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=4–14 |doi=10.1109/84.232589 |url=https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/290G/Papers/Feynman83.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127162657/https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/290G/Papers/Feynman83.pdf |archive-date=2019-01-27}}</ref> which Feynman called "Plenty of Room, Revisited" (published under the name "Infinitesimal Machinery").  Also in Toumey's references are videotapes of that second talk.  The journal ''[[Nature Nanotechnology]]'' dedicated an issue in 2009 to the subject.<ref>{{cite journal |title='Plenty of room' revisited |journal=[[Nature Nanotechnology]] |date=December 2009 |volume=4 |issue=12 |pages=781 |doi=10.1038/nnano.2009.356 |pmid=19966817 |bibcode=2009NatNa...4..781. |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Toumey found that the published versions of Feynman's talk had a negligible influence in the twenty years after it was first published, as measured by citations in the scientific literature, and not much more influence in the decade after the scanning tunneling microscope was invented in 1981. Interest in "Plenty of Room" in the scientific literature greatly increased in the early 1990s. This is probably because the term "nanotechnology" gained serious attention just before that time, following its use by Drexler in his 1986 book, [[Engines of Creation|''Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology'']], which cited Feynman, and in a cover article headlined "Nanotechnology", published later that year in a mass-circulation science-oriented magazine, [[Omni (magazine)|''OMNI'']].<ref>{{cite journal |first= Fred |last=Hapgood |date=November 1986|title= "Nanotechnology" / "Tinytech" | page=56 |journal=Omni}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Drexler|first=Eric|title=The promise that launched the field of nanotechnology|url=http://metamodern.com/2009/12/15/when-a-million-readers-first-encountered-nanotechnology/|publisher=Metamodern: The Trajectory of Technology|access-date=13 May 2011|date=15 December 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714075738/http://metamodern.com/2009/12/15/when-a-million-readers-first-encountered-nanotechnology/|archive-date=14 July 2011}}</ref>  The journal [[Nanotechnology (journal)|''Nanotechnology'']] was launched in 1989; the famous [[IBM (atoms)|Eigler-Schweizer experiment]], precisely manipulating 35 xenon atoms, was published in ''Nature'' in April 1990; and ''Science'' had a special issue on nanotechnology in November 1991.  These and other developments hint that the retroactive rediscovery of "Plenty of Room" gave nanotechnology a packaged history that provided an early date of December 1959, plus a connection to Richard Feynman.<ref name=toumey/>

Toumey's analysis also includes comments from scientists in nanotechnology who say that "Plenty of Room" did not influence their early work, and most of them had not read it until a later date.<ref name=toumey/>

Feynman's stature as a Nobel laureate and an important figure in 20th-century science helped advocates of nanotechnology. It provided a valuable intellectual link to the past.<ref name=Milburn/> More concretely, his stature and concept of atomically precise fabrication played a role in securing funding for nanotechnology research, illustrated by President [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]]'s January 2000 speech calling for a federal program:

{{blockquote|My budget supports a major new [[National Nanotechnology Initiative]], worth $500 million. Caltech is no stranger to the idea of nanotechnology, the ability to manipulate matter at the atomic and molecular level. Over 40 years ago, Caltech's own Richard Feynman asked, "What would happen if we could arrange the atoms one by one the way we want them?"<ref>[https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/2000/01/2000-01-21-remarks-by-the-president-at-science-and-technology-event.html Remarks at the California Institute of Technology], January 21, 2000, Public Papers of William J. Clinton, January 1 – June 26, 2000, p. 96</ref>}}

The version of the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act that the House passed in May 2003 called for a study of the technical feasibility of molecular manufacturing, but this study was removed to safeguard funding of less controversial research before it was passed by the Senate and signed into law by President [[George W. Bush]] on December 3, 2003.<ref>{{cite magazine |first= Ed |last= Regis |date= October 2004 |title= The Incredible Shrinking Man |url= http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/drexler.html?pg=3 |magazine= Wired |access-date= 2015-05-16 |archive-date= 2016-03-04 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200513/http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/drexler.html?pg=3 |url-status= live }}</ref>

In 2016, a group of researchers of [[Delft University of Technology|TU Delft]] and [[International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory|INL]] reported the storage of a paragraph of Feynman's talk using binary code where every bit was made with a single atomic vacancy.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Kalff|first1=F. E.|last2=Rebergen|first2=M. P.|last3=Fahrenfort|first3=E.|last4=Girovsky|first4=J.|last5=Toskovic|first5=R.|last6=Lado|first6=J. L.|last7=Fernández-Rossier|first7=J.|last8=Otte|first8=A. F.|date=November 2016|title=A kilobyte rewritable atomic memory|journal=Nature Nanotechnology|volume=11|issue=11|pages=926–929|doi=10.1038/nnano.2016.131|pmid=27428273|arxiv=1604.02265|bibcode=2016NatNa..11..926K|s2cid=37998209}}</ref>  Using a scanning tunnelling microscope to manipulate thousand of atoms, the researchers crafted the text:

{{blockquote|But I am not afraid to consider the final question as to whether, ultimately – in the great future – we can arrange the atoms the way we want; the very atoms, all the way down! What would happen if we could arrange the atoms one by one the way we want them (within reason, of course; you can't put them so that they are chemically unstable, for example).

Up to now, we have been content to dig in the ground to find minerals. We heat them and we do things on a large scale with them, and we hope to get a pure substance with just so much impurity, and so on. But we must always accept some atomic arrangement that nature gives us. We haven't got anything, say, with a "checkerboard" arrangement, with the impurity atoms precisely arranged 1,000 angstroms apart, or in some other particular pattern.}}

This text uses  exactly 1 [[kibibyte]],  i.e., 8192 bits,  made with 1 atom vacancy each, constituting  thereby the first atomic kibibyte, with a storage density 500 times larger than the state of the art approaches.<ref name=":0" />  The text required to "arrange the atoms the way we want",   in  a checkerboard pattern. This self-referential  tribute to Feynman's vision was covered both by scientific journals<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Corneliussen|first=Steven T. Corneliussen Steven T.|date=2016-07-29|title=News publications place "A kilobyte rewritable atomic memory" within physics history|journal=Physics Today|issue=7 |page=11840 |doi=10.1063/PT.5.8182|bibcode=2016PhT..2016g1840C }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Service|first1=Robert F.|date=2016-07-18|title=Scientists make single-atom memory from copper and chlorine|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/scientists-make-single-atom-memory-copper-and-chlorine|access-date=2020-07-11|website=Science {{!}} AAAS|archive-date=2020-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711092354/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/07/scientists-make-single-atom-memory-copper-and-chlorine|url-status=live}}</ref> and mainstream media.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Atoms and the voids|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2016/07/23/atoms-and-the-voids|access-date=2020-07-11|issn=0013-0613|archive-date=2020-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711082902/https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2016/07/23/atoms-and-the-voids|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Hernandez|first=Daniela|date=2016-07-18|title=Tiny Hard Drive Uses Single Atoms to Store Data|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiny-hard-drive-uses-single-atoms-to-store-data-1468854001|access-date=2020-07-11|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=2020-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712085529/https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiny-hard-drive-uses-single-atoms-to-store-data-1468854001|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Fiction byproducts==
* In "[[Beyond the Barrier|The Tree of Time]]", a short story published in 1964, [[Damon Knight]] uses the idea of a barrier that has to be constructed atom by atom (a time barrier, in the story).

==Editions==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |date= April 2, 1960 |title=The Wonders That Await a Micro-Microscope |pages=45–47 |magazine=The Saturday Review }}
*{{cite magazine |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |date=November 1960 |title=How to Build an Automobile Smaller Than This Dot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VyYDAAAAMBAJ&q=Feynman&pg=PA114 |pages=114–116, 230–232 |magazine=Popular Science |location=New York, New York |publisher=Popular Science Publishing Co., Inc. |access-date=2018-07-08 |archive-date=2022-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304124324/https://books.google.com/books?id=VyYDAAAAMBAJ&q=Feynman&pg=PA114 |url-status=live }} A condensed version of the talk.
*{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UxZTAAAAMAAJ&q=Feynman |title=Miniaturization |chapter=There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |editor-last=Gilbert |editor-first=Horace D. |date=1961 |pages=282–296 |publisher=Reinhold |language=en |access-date=2020-09-15 |archive-date=2022-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304124339/https://books.google.com/books?id=UxZTAAAAMAAJ&q=Feynman |url-status=live }}
*{{cite journal|last=Feynman|first=R.P.|title=There's plenty of room at the bottom (data storage)|journal=Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems|date=1 March 1992|volume=1|issue=1|pages=60–66|doi=10.1109/84.128057|s2cid=40094454}} A reprint of the talk.
*{{cite journal|last=Feynman|first=R.|title=Infinitesimal machinery|journal=Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems|year=1993|volume=2|issue=1|pages=4–14|doi=10.1109/84.232589|s2cid=138577784}} A sequel to his first talk.
{{Refend}}

==See also==
* [[Foresight Nanotech Institute Feynman Prize]]
* [[Moore's law]]
* [[Nanocar]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html Feynman's classic 1959 talk "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"]
* [http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1976/1/1960Bottom.pdf "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"] in February 1960 ''Engineering and Science'' Caltech magazine

{{Richard Feynman}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:There's Plenty Of Room At The Bottom}}
[[Category:1959 speeches]]
[[Category:American Physical Society]]
[[Category:California Institute of Technology]]
[[Category:Lectures]]
[[Category:Nanotechnology publications]]
[[Category:Physics papers]]
[[Category:Thought experiments]]
[[Category:Works by Richard Feynman]]