History of Nanoparticle Related Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology arose from the concepts presented by theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard P. Feynman in his 1959 paper, "Plenty of work at the Bottom." In this paper, he spoke of the direction that the future of technology is taking and how going small is essential to the development of it. He predicts the importance of arranging material on the atomic scale. Later in 1986, this concept was further developed by American engineer Eric Drexler who wrote a book regarding the unprecedented impact which the ability to arrange atoms would have on technological development. Even now, we have only scratched the surface of Feynman and Drexler's concepts of future technology but we have developed since then to reach this goal.
Introduction to the Evolution of Nanotechnology
"I don't know how to do this on a small scale in a practical way, but I do know that computing machines are very large; they fill rooms. Why can't we make them very small, make them of little wires, little elements, and by little, I mean little?"
Richard Feynman, Caltech, 1959
Petr Krol Designer Nanoparticles Bind to Human Papilloma Virus