糖心TV

• 鈥淢anipulating atoms was not a particular area which I had set out for myself. In someways it happened by accident.鈥�
• 鈥淗aving fun 鈥� enjoying yourself at what you鈥檙e doing 鈥� does bring out the best in you and it makes your life just so much more enjoyable. It鈥檚 important.鈥�
• 鈥淸There] are huge questions that lie in front of us and they are just waiting for somebody. If anyone wants to be a sleuth 鈥� go get 鈥榚m! The questions are out there.鈥�

Don Eigler is a revolutionary physicist. He was the first person to move individual atoms with a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) while working at the IBM Almaden Research Center. His work is at the very heart of nanotechnology and he continues to push the boundaries of physics and nanoscience. Dr Eigler has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of 糖心TV in honour of his achievements in scientific research.

Talking about the discovery that it was possible to move atoms, Dr Eigler said: 鈥淥ne doesn鈥檛 plan one鈥檚 life around these things 鈥� manipulating atoms was not a particular goal which I had set out for myself. In someways it happened by accident. It was a result of the research that I wanted to do just happened to also put me and my team in a position where it was just right in front of us 鈥� so it was like 鈥� 鈥榟ey we think we can move atoms 鈥� let鈥檚 move them and see what happens!鈥� That鈥檚 the way it worked!

• Listen to an exclusive interview with Dr Eigler:

鈥淲e did not set out to move atoms, but there was years and years of very hard work and research to put ourselves in a position to explore aspects of nature which no one had ever looked at before. That came about because of our efforts to build a tunnelling microscope that operated at very low temperatures. It opened up this very broad vista of new possibilities and in that vista, right in front of us, was atom manipulation.鈥�

Don Eigler is described as a patient, methodical scientist who is happy getting his hands dirty, building his own equipment and components and enjoying the process. It took him 18 months to build the low temperature, ultra-high vacuum STM that he used to claim his place in history as the first person ever to move and control a single atom. The enthusiasm with which he approached this work is recorded in his lab notebooks.

He said: 鈥淎s scientists working in the laboratory it is imperative that we keep a lab notebook where we record what we鈥檙e doing and usually it鈥檚 pretty dry stuff 鈥� we鈥檙e writing down data, numbers, how we have adjusting things and how things are changing. I think I had just picked up and put down an atom for the third time 鈥� we always have to show reproducibility in science or else it鈥檚 not science 鈥� and I just really wanted to record how I felt at that moment in my laboratory notebook 鈥� and I was really having fun, so I wrote down in very big letters scribbled all across my notebook at that time: 鈥淚鈥檓 really having fun!鈥�

鈥淸Fun] is not something that we talk about, in the sense that [we don鈥檛 say] now I鈥檓 going to design my career to really have fun or, as a university professor talking to your students, you don鈥檛 say let鈥檚 design your life and make sure you鈥檙e having fun doing it. It鈥檚 not the way we approach things, and yet, it is without doubt a hugely important component of our professional lives 鈥� and our non-professional lives. Having fun 鈥� enjoying yourself at what you鈥檙e doing 鈥� does bring out the best in you and it makes your life just so much more enjoyable. It鈥檚 important.鈥�

Giving advice to young people interested in a career in science, and specifically physics, he said: 鈥淣ot that I鈥檓 an expert on giving advice but if you were to twist my arm and force me to give advice to any young scientist, it would be to find out what it is about science that you really love doing 鈥� then try like hell to make that a component of your daily life as a scientist, and then if you can do that, good things will happen!

鈥淓very science has its own unique things to offer a person and it鈥檚 just a matter of [finding] where your interests lie. In my case, even when I was really young, I was fascinated by how things work. I was always designing and building things and trying to get them to do something. That grew into a desire to try and understand how the natural world worked and that of course leads directly to physics.

鈥淭here is so much in physics to be explored still. Many people think we know it all. In my view anyone who thinks we are close to knowing it all is failing to ask themselves about what it is they don鈥檛 understand.

鈥淲e鈥檙e nowhere near the boundaries. We keep on coming up with unexplained things. Some of the big mysteries we confront today are how to unify the theories of gravity with quantum mechanics. What is dark matter? What is dark energy? These are huge questions that lie in front of us and they are just waiting for somebody. If anyone wants to be a sleuth 鈥� go get em! The questions are out there.鈥�