Instrumental Community : Probe Microscopy and the Path to Nanotechnology

1. Book Explores Contributions of the Scanning Probe Microscopy Community to Nanotechnology Instrumental Community: Probe Microscopy and the Path to Nanotechnology Rice University historian Cyrus Mody tells the story of the forty-year history of the probe microscopy community that played a key role in the development of nanotechnology techniques and institutions. • Main Findings: • Healthy research communities innovate and experiment as much in the forms of their institutions as they do in their technologies. • Commercialization of academic research takes many forms, is driven by many motivations, and has a very long history. • There is no one best way to structure university-industry cooperation. • Blurring of lines among academic, government, and corporate organizations causes friction, but is ubiquitous and necessary to the circulation of tools, people, and ideas within research communities. Conclusion: New research fields (such as nanotechnology) emerge in response to the combination of external pressures on the research system and demographic, social, intellectual, and technological pressures arising within pre-existing fields. Mody, C. C. M. (2011). Instrumental Community: Probe Microscopy and the Path to Nanotechnology. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262134941