Growing up with Nanoscience in India

It is difficult to trace the history of Nanoscience, as many important concepts and applications have existed for centuries. Richard Feynman is falsely credited with catalysing modern-day Nanotechnology, though his much-cited 'Plenty of Room…' talk captured the imagination of people and underlined the power of the discipline. Similarly, it is not easy to identify the first contribution on Nanoscience from India, though we are now one of the top producers of papers on this topic. In TIFR, this activity was initiated as far back as the late 1970s by a motley group of material scientists, chemists and engineers. Riding on sheer enthusiasm and intuition, fabricating their own instrument when needed, they demonstrated that 'microparticle technology' could be used to synthesize materials with greatly enhanced properties. Using the expertise gained thereby, we soon diversified to the basic aspects of dimensional confinement. After a brief look at the early history and significant achievements, I will discuss recent results on important structural aspects of nanoparticles.