Computational Materials Science: Georgia Tech Researcher Wins Feynman Prize, Top Award in Theoretical Nanotechnology

Professor Uzi Landman poses with an illustration from a 1990 Science paper on the formation of nanowires. (300-dpi JPEG version - 580k)

Nanotechnology's highest honors for the year 2000 have been awarded to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, HP Labs and UCLA for major advances in the ability to build useful devices and structures with atomic precision. Two prizes are given annually, one for theoretical work and one for experimental achievement.

Georgia Tech physicist Uzi Landman won this year's Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theoretical) for his pioneering work in computation materials science for nanostructures. Such computer modeling provides deep insights into the nature and properties of matter at the nanoscale, and is essential in predicting what could be built at the molecular level, reducing time spent on expensive "wet" lab experiments.

"This award is a sign of a growing awareness and recognition of the contributions, importance and potential of materials simulations to the development of the science and technology of nanoscale systems," said Landman, director of the Center for Computational Materials Science at Georgia Tech. "Having devoted the past 25 years to the conceptual and practical development of simulation methodologies, and having endeavored -- with the invaluable help of dedicated colleagues -- to establish such theoretical approaches as 'computational microscopies and spectroscopies' of predictive power, this recognition is most rewarding."

Using large-scale computer simulations of how atoms and molecules interact, Landman's work has given materials scientists new insights into how materials at the small scale differ from those same materials in their larger "bulk" form. Understanding these sometimes surprising differences is key to future nanoscale electronic devices, as well as to other nanotechnology applications.

"The uniqueness and advantage of atomistic simulation methodologies is that they allow interrogations of complex materials systems with resolution in space and time that are often not possible to achieve by other theoretical approaches, and sometimes beyond experimental capabilities," Landman explained. "In such 'numerical experiments,' one can investigate the behavior of matter under conditions which are sometimes difficult, hazardous or impossible to realize in the laboratory."

His best-known work was reported in a 1990 paper published in the journal Science. In that paper, Landman and his colleagues predicted the formation and elongation of nanometer-scale wires generated as a consequence of the interaction between a tip and a surface. These predictions were later verified experimentally, and have been important to research in the area of nanowires.

During the past six months, Landman's team published a paper in Science demonstrating the feasibility of "nanojets" that could be used to produce a future generation of electronic circuitry, or to inject genes into cells. Working with IBM scientists, he also reported in the journal Physical Review Letters on the unique properties of silicon nanowires that could be important to future computers.

For over a decade Landman's group has also studied the behavior of nanoscale clusters and the atomic and molecular origins of friction. They have predicted that lubricants in nanoscale machines might behave in ways different from what designers intended, and developed methods for the control of friction. In all, he has published more than 250 papers in refereed journals, more than 30 book chapters, and supervised a dozen Ph.D. students.

With degrees from the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Israel Institute of Technology, Landman joined the School of Physics at Georgia Tech in 1977. He is a Regents' and Institute professor, holding the Fuller E. Callaway Chair in Computational Materials Science since 1995.

Theory Balanced by Experiment

The Feynman Experimental Prize went to the multidisciplinary team of chemist R. Stanley Williams and computer scientists Philip Kuekes, both of HP Labs in Palo Alto, along with chemist James Heath of UCLA. They were cited for building a molecular switch, a major step toward their long-term goal of building entire memory chips that are just a hundred nanometers wide, smaller than a bacterium.

The prizes were given at the 8th Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology, held this year in Bethesda, MD with a record international turnout of over 400 nanotechnology researchers and funders, including numerous venture capital firms, a first for this budding industry.

"We're seeing the start of a ramp-up in nanotechnology funding, from both public and private sources," said Foresight chairman Eric Drexler. "The technical path is immensely challenging, but should yield tremendous long-term payoffs in medicine, transportation and the environment."

The Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology is named in honor of the late Nobel physicist Richard Feynman, whose visionary talk in 1959 continues to inspire today's nanotechnology R&D community.

Also awarded was the first Foresight Prize in Communication, going to Senior Correspondent Ron Dagani of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

Harvard graduate student Christopher Love took top student honors this year, winning the Foresight Distinguished Student Award for his work in architectures for molecular electronic computers and nanomanipulation of structures on surfaces.

The Foresight Institute is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to guide emerging technologies to improve the human condition. Foresight focuses its efforts upon nanotechnology, the coming ability to build materials and products with atomic precision, and upon systems that will enhance knowledge exchange and critical discussion, thus improving public and private policy decisions.

Relevant URLs:
Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology http://www.foresight.org/FI/2000Feynman.html
Foresight Conference in Nanotechnology http://www.foresight.org/conference/MNT8
Uzi Landman http://www.physics.gatech.edu/people/faculty/ulandman.html
Williams/Kuekes http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/molecules_that_compute.html
James Heath http://www.chem.ucla.edu/dept/Faculty/heath/
Feynman's 1959 talk http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html
Ron Dagani http://pubs.acs.org/cen/staff/biord.html
Chris Love http://www.mitre.org/technology/nanotech/MITREnano_group.html

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Foresight Institute: Christine Peterson, (650-917-1122).
HP Labs: Dave Berman, (650-857-7277).
UCLA: Harlan Lebo, (310-206-0510).

TECHNICAL CONTACT: Uzi Landman (404-894-3368); E-mail: (uzi.landman@physics.gatech.edu)

WRITER: John Toon