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K. Eric Drexler Facts

K. Eric Drexler Facts
Kim Eric Drexler (April 25, 1955) is an American engineer. He is best known for his work in nanotechnology. His doctoral thesis Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery Manufacturing and Computation was published in book form in 1992 and received the Association of American Publishers award for Best Computer Science Book of 1992.
Interesting K. Eric Drexler Facts:
Kim Eric Drexler was born in Alameda, California.
He holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology including a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Sciences in 1977, an M.S. in Astro/Aerospace Engineering in 1979 and PhD in 1991.
His PhD dissertation was the first doctoral work topic of molecular nanotechnology.
In 1975 and 1976 Drexler was involved in NASA summer studies on space colonization and he invented a metal solar sail only a few nanometers thick.
He delivered papers at the first three Space Manufacturing conferences held at Princeton.
Two of the papers were co-authored with Keith Henson and they were awarded patents for their vapor phase fabrication and space radiators.
Vapor phase fabrication is a process used to produce high performance, solid materials and is used in the semiconductor industry to produce ultra-thin films.
In 1986 he wrote Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology in which he described molecular nanotechnology and the idea of a self-replicating assembler.
There are hurdles to be overcome in applying nanotechnology and the first is the lack of a method for creating machines at the atomic level.
The second difficulty is that of designing machine parts only a few atoms in size.
The third major difficulty is recognizing successful attempts and failures and the means to do that has not been achieved.
As of December 2006 a report from the National Academies Press entitled "A Matter of Size: Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative reported no real progress in molecular nanotechnology had been made.
In 2004 he signed a scientists' letter in support of cryonics.
Nanotechnology manufacturing is a popular topic in science fiction and Drexler is mentioned in the science fiction book, The Diamond Age.
In the novel Newton's Wake a 'drexler' is the assembler envisioned by Eric Drexler.


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