Donna Nelson, a chemist and president of the American Chemical Society, says, “I think this topic is going to be fabulous for science. When the Nobel Prize is given it inspires a lot of interest in the topic by other researchers. It will also increase funding.” Nelson also notes this particular area, tiny machines, “will be fascinating for kids. They can visualize it and imagine a nanocar. This comes at a great time, when we need to inspire the next generation of scientists.”And inspiration creates results.
Today’s prize-winners were inspired, as were many in their profession, by a 1959 lecture by another Nobelist, physicist Richard Feynmann, who talked about the potential for construction at the smallest scales. His talk was titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom.” Today that lower room proved to be a route to the top of the scientific world.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/molecular-machine-makers-grab-the-2016-nobel-prize-in-chemistry1/
