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Osref Theory Discovery Science 2007
Osref Theory Discovery Science 2007
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
S
cientific discoveries are the steps Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Gyrgyi put it, to often called serendipitous and which Louis
some small, some bigon the staircase see what everyone else has seen and think what Pasteur felt favored the prepared mind. In
called progress, which has led to a bet- no one else has thought before. Thus, the this category are the instances of a chance
ter life for the citizens of the world. Each sci- movement of stars in the sky and the fall of an event that the ready mind recognizes as
entific discovery is made possible by the apple from a tree were apparent to everyone, important and then explains to other scien-
arrangement of neurons in the brain of one but Isaac Newton came up with the concept of tists. This category not only would include
individual and as such is idiosyncratic. In gravity to explain it all in one great theory. Pasteurs discovery of optical activity (D and L
looking back on centuries of scientific discov- Challenge discoveries are a response to isomers), but also W. C. Roentgens x-rays and
CATEGORIES OF DISCOVERY
Problem that needed solving Discovery Discoverer Category of discovery
Movement of stars, Earth, and Sun Gravity Newton Charge
Structure of C6H6 Benzene structure Kekul Challenge
Clear spots on petri dish Penicillin Fleming Chance
Constant speed of light Special relativity Einstein Challenge
CREDITS: NASA; JUPITER IMAGES
the original contribution is the perception of the individual is interested in phenomena as the Ten Commandments. As more complex
the importance of the accident and articulat- and is constantly seeking to understand and societies emerged, the idea of a democratic
ing the phenomenon on which it throws light. explain them. Knowledgeable means that the vote probably resulted from a charge that
Second, most important discoveries are usu- individual has a background of facts and theo- saw the importance of getting consensus. The
ally not solved in one Eureka moment, as ries as a fertile incubator into which the new Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights came out
movie scripts sometimes suggest. True, there facts can fall. of challenges to an entrenched social sys-
are moments in which a scientist has been The Cha-Cha-Cha Theory pertains to tem. So when Einstein said that scientific
mulling over various facts and problems and small everyday findings by scientists as well thinking and general thinking were not that
suddenly puts them all together, but most major as the big discoveries that appear in history different, he probably meant that the patterns
discoveries require scientists to make not one books. When, for example, a researcher dis- of thought of those with prepared minds in
but a number of original discoveries and to per- covers a new chemical isolated from a plant, government and law operated by some of the
sist in pursuing them until a discovery is com- there is so much understood today that the same general principles as science, even
plete. Thus, to solidify his theory of gravity, charge to that scientist is to find the for- though the methods of science and law are
Newton developed calculus and laws of physics mula and structure of the compound. There very different.
that he described in his Principia. In a modern are now many ways to find the structure of an Someday we may understand the arrange-
example, Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein unknown chemical. Along the way there may ment of neurons in the brain enough to
not only studied the metabolism of cholesterol be anomalous results that present challenges understand how originality can arise. A wild
APPLIED PHYSICS
A method for vibrating a nanocantilever may
yield much more sensitive measurement tools
How to Strum a Nanobar and computers based on mechanical logic
devices.
Miles Blencowe
N
anotechnologists are increasingly of a nanomechanical resonator as it responds underlying GaAs crystal orientation is chosen
interested in using mechanical vibrat- to a local stimulus must be efficiently trans- such that applying a voltage between the top
ing structures as fast, sensitive detec- duced into an electromagnetic signal that can and bottom faces will cause it to either elon-
tors of such properties as electric charge (1), be amplified to measurable levels. These gate or shorten, depending on the polarity of
magnetism (2), and mass (3). These devices requirements of efficiency, compactness, and the applied electric field.
make good detectors because, just as a bit of speed favor methods of actuation and trans- To understand better how the motion is
sealing wax changes the frequency of a tun- duction that are part of the nanomechanical produced, consider a GaAs cantilever and
ing fork, the properties of a nanoresonator resonator itself. suppose that an ac voltage source is applied
will change in response to external forces. On page 780 of this issue (5), Masmanidis between its top and bottom faces. If the fre-
Nanomechanical resonators may also be suit- et al. demonstrate an intrinsic actuation met- quency of the ac voltage matches that of one
able as ultracompact, high-frequency filters hod ideally suited to nanoscale mechanical of the cantilevers longitudinal vibration
and mixers for electromagnetic signals (4). resonators. The method relies on a property of modes (i.e., stretching modes along the direc-
That is, by tailoring the vibrational properties some crystals called piezoelectricity (6), tion of the cantilever), then the cantilever will
of the structure, only select frequencies are deriving from the Greek piezen, meaning to ring at this frequency. However, longitudinal
detected. For these applications to be feasible, press. As the name suggests, stressing such a modes are difficult to detect because of their
it is crucial that we have the ability to drive the crystal will produce a corresponding voltage relatively high frequencies and small dis-
nanomechanical resonator into motion with between certain faces of the crystal. Con- placement amplitudes. As with stringed musi-
an electromagnetic force (i.e., actuate the versely, applying a voltage between the same cal instruments, it is preferable to excite the
resonator) in an efficient and controllable faces will generate a corresponding mech- lower frequency, bending modes of the can-
way. At the same time, the delicate quivering anical deformation or strain of the crystal. tilever, especially the fundamental mode. The
Masmanidis et al. use both singly clamped method of actuation should also be internal to
cantilevers and doubly clamped bridge res- the cantilever and not require external elec-
The author is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy,
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. E-mail: onators (see the micrograph) that are fash- trodes attached to its top and bottom faces.
blencowe@dartmouth.edu ioned from gallium arsenide (GaAs) (7). The Masmanidis et al. elegantly meet both of