Nanotechnology Demystifi ed is for anyone interested in the nanoscale world who wants to learn more about this exciting new area. It can also be used by home-schooled students, tutored students, and those people wanting to change careers. The material is presented in an easy-to-follow way and can best be understood when read from beginning to end. However, if you want more information on specifi c topics—for example, quantum dots, nanoelectronics, lab-on-a-chip, and so on—or you want to check out only nanotechnology business happenings, those chapters can be reviewed individually.

During the course of this book, I have mentioned milestone theories and accomplishments of many scientists and engineers. I have highlighted these knowledge leaps to suggest how the questions and bright ideas of curious people have advanced humankind. Science is all about curiosity and the desire to fi gure out how something happens. Nobel Prize winners were once students who daydreamed about new ways of doing things. They knew that answers to diffi cult questions had to exist and were stubborn enough to dig for them. The Nobel Prize in science (actors have Oscar and scientists have Nobel) has been awarded more than 470 times since 1901. The youngest person to receive the award, physicist W. Lawrence Bragg, was only 25 years old when he won his Nobel in 1915.

Alfred E. Nobel (1833–1896) held 355 patents for inventions during his lifetime. After his death, his will outlined the establishment of an international annual award in fi ve areas (chemistry, physics, physiology/ medicine, literature, and peace) of equal value, “for those who, in the previous year, have contributed best towards the benefi ts for humankind.” In 1968, the Nobel Prize for economics was established. More than 776 Nobel Prizes have been awarded in all areas since the fi rst prize was given out.