Materials and nanotechnology

This paper transcribes a talk given at Drexel University as part of the April 2002 Franklin Medal festivities. Nanomaterials are ubiquitous in occurrence in nature as well as technology. They present immense opportunities both for furthering fundamental understanding and for technological applications. They provide challenges for the infrastructure of science and of interdisciplinary research and education. Nanotechnology itself neither solves nor creates uniquely new societal problems, but interacts with existing societal trends, augmenting existing strengths and weaknesses by hastening technological change.