The world of shrinking technologies and the opportunities and challenges faced when building at the "nanoscale" will be explored in a July 26 lecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Cornell University physics Professor Paul McEuen will present the free public lecture "Small is All: Nano, Bio and the Future of Technology" at 7 p.m. in Duane Physics room G1B20.
During the lecture, McEuen will talk about how miniaturization has been the dominant force driving technological progress over the past 50 years. He will examine why small is so big and talk about a few examples of shrinking technologies, including the ever-shrinking integrated circuit that has taken us from the 10-pound adding machine to the 5-ounce Blackberry. He also will discuss what is in store for the next 50 years.
McEuen is a physicist working in the field of nanoelectronic devices ranging from single-molecule transistors to the world's smallest electric guitar.
The lecture is part of the sixth annual Boulder Summer School for Condensed Matter and Material Physics, which is hosted by CU-Boulder and supported by a $1.36 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
This year's school focuses on mesoscopic physics, which is the study of electrical, thermal, optical and mechanical properties of materials that range in size between visible to the naked eye and individual atoms or molecules. Researchers in the field study the fundamental physical problems that accompany nanoelectronic engineering.
The school's goal is to enable students to work at the frontiers of science and technology by exposing them to a range of concepts, techniques and applications much broader than any single graduate program or postdoctoral apprenticeship can provide, according to Leo Radzihovsky, a CU-Boulder physics professor. Radzihovsky co-founded the school with Steven Girvin of Yale University, Matthew Fisher of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Andy Millis of Columbia University.
For more information about the July 26 lecture call (303) 492-1515.