Nanoscience, and the technology that stems
from it (that is, nanoscience and technology),
constitutes one of the great revolutions that
originated in the twentieth century. Formally
recognized in the late 1950s, it has grown to a
present-day economy of nano-enabled products
worth roughly US$1 trillion annually, which is
expected to become US$3 trillion in 2020. The
worldwide workforce in this economic sector is
counted in the millions. Global governmentderived research and development funding is
roughly US$10 billion annually, with publications in the neighborhood of 100,000 per
year. In the fi elds of geo- and environmental
nanosciences and technologies, the number
of publications per year has increased by over
two orders of magnitude in the last 25 years,
making it one of the fastest-growing fi elds
in all of nanoscale science and engineering.
Development in this fi eld is crucial because it
is central to some of the most vital issues of
the twenty-fi rst century, including safe water,
mineral and energy resource development,
local/regional/global contaminant issues
(including disease transmission), and global
climate change.
