Atomic force microscopy (AFM) uses a sharp tip, thin down to the atomic scale, that scans across a surface and measures the physical interaction between tip and sample, producing images of surface features down to tens of atoms or even single atoms. Invented in 1986, AFM underlies much of modern nanotechnology, with applications in materials science (measuring stress and strain), biology, and medicine. The hosts name Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate, and Christoph Gerber as the original inventors, noting they shared the 2016 Kavli Prize in nanoscience, and suggest that if AFM wins a Nobel Prize, only Binnig and Gerber could receive it since Quate died in 2019.
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Binnig is described as a retired physicist from IBM's Zurich Research Lab, and Gerber as a physics professor at the University of Basel, making both potential Swiss Nobel recipients.
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The hosts note AFM was invented exactly 40 years before this recording, in 1986.
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27:38Physics 2, I'm going to be honest, this is also a recycle from last year because I really do think AFM is something that deserves it. Okay, this is the atomic force microscope. >> This one is so crazy. >> Yeah, this one is huge. Um, here's the idea. With the AFM, the atomic force microscope, you can scan a sharp tip that is like at the level of angstrom's thick at its tip. Like this is like something that is like at the atomic resolution. And what you do is you run a surface across it and it measures the interaction between the tip and the sample. I I want to just double click on
28:19this. We're talking about ex very very very very very small. >> Yeah. Like you see those hills and valleys there? Those are like those are like at on the orders of tens of atoms like that. It's >> right to now I think I think people are doing like single atoms straight up >> which is so ridiculous. >> It's so ridiculous how we can sense such tiny tiny perturbations right. Um it's it's completely led to the the advent of precision nanotechnology. >> Um a lot of really nice applications like if we want to understand the stress and strain of materials at that scale, right? Um if we want to understand for
29:01example even biological membranes in biological tissue, what is the type of force that biology goes under at the molecular scale? We can use AFMs. It's it's an absolutely revolutionary technology. I think um under suitable conditions, they can even resolve single atoms. It's >> so nuts. >> It it's it's huge. >> I mean, there's manufacturing, you know, benefits. There's biological health medicine, clinical benefits, >> research. It just applies literally everywhere. >> Yeah. Exactly. Um and so the original inventors were Jared Binig, Calvin Kuate, and Kristoff Gerber. They all received the 2016 Kavi Prize in
29:42nanocience. Kuate died in 2019. So if the Nobel honors them, it's going to be um only Binig and Gerber. >> Binig is a retired physicist from IBM's IBM's Zurich research lab. And Gerber is the department of physics professor at the University of Bassel. So this would be two Swiss recipients. Europe's on the board. >> Yep. >> Europe's on the board. It's not just California forever goodbye. I I I remember when we first when we first talked about these and um it was so early in the show >> and there were a lot of fundamental
30:23concepts that have stuck with me since in terms of being able to build further understanding in our future stories just in terms of like again what's even possible. I mean these things are not new. >> Yeah. >> And so a we've come a long way. Okay. So when we talk about frontier research stories, we're talking about much more evolved applications, not necessarily of these concepts specifically, but just if you can imagine, we were doing these things such a long time ago. >> Yeah. This was 1986. >> Imagine what we're doing now, >> right? So this was exactly 40 years ago. >> Yeah. >> Um and because of the AFM, we have such a we we have a much more finer understanding of nanotechnology. Right.
31:04Without the AFM, a lot of the nanotechnology that we use in day-to-day lives wouldn't be possible because the AFM gives us a way to probe that scale and understand what's going on down there. It's like opposite world JWST. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> In the other direction. >> In the other direction. Exactly. We are going to move now to the final category. Again, we are going to be having coverage every day for the first three days for the only real >> Nobel prizes, >> medicine, physics, and our final category, chemistry. Actually, um can I just caveat that? Um peace and literature are real Nobel prizes because
31:46um Alfred Nobel put it in his will that he wanted peace and >> sure >> literature. So, there's really five real Nobel prizes because that's what was in Alfred Nobel's will. >> But what about economics? >> Yeah, >> I didn't I don't You guys hear something?