The idea of nanotechnology was born in 1959 when physicist Richard Feynman  gave a lecture exploring the idea of building things at the atomic and molecular scale. He imagined the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica written on the head of a pin.  However, experimental nanotechnology did not come into its own until 1981, when IBM scientists in Zurich, Switzerland, built the first scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). This allows us to see single atoms by scanning a tiny probe over the surface of a silicon crystal. In 1990, IBM scientists discovered how to use an STM to move single xenon atoms around on a nickel surface - in an iconic experiment, with an inspired eye for marketing, they moved 35 atoms to spell out "IBM".  Further techniques have since been developed to capture images at the atomic scale, these include the atomic force microscope (AFM), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the even a kind of modified light microscope.  Other significant advances were made in 1985, when chemists discovered how to create a soccer-ball-shaped molecule of 60 carbon atoms, which they called buckminsterfullerene (also known as C60 or buckyballs). And in 1991, tiny, super-strong rolls of carbon atoms known as carbon nanotubes were created. These are six times lighter, yet 100 times stronger than steel.  Both materials have important applications as nanoscale building blocks. Nanotubes have been made into fibres, long threads and fabrics, and used to create tough plastics, computer chips, toxic gas detectors, and numerous other novel materials. The far future might even see the unique properties of nanotubes harnessed to build a space elevator.  More recently, scientists working on the nanoscale have created a multitude of other nanoscale components and devices, including:  Tiny transistors, superconducting quantum dots, nanodiodes, nanosensors,molecular pistons, supercapacitors, "biomolecular" motors, chemical motors,a nano train set, nanoscale elevators, a DNA nanowalking robot,nanothermometers, nano containers, the beginnings of a miniature chemistry set, nano-Velcro, nanotweezers, nano weighing scales, a nano abacus, a nano guitar, a nanoscale fountain pen, and even a nanosized soldering iron