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Tiny lab to make big impact
Mar 29 2005
A £10 million centre for the study of nanoscience has opened at Birmingham University.
The centre, one of only a handful in Britain, is expected to help develop the city's growing reputation as a high-tech hub.
Its 300 scientists, researchers and engineers will study atoms through microscopes 1,000 times more powerful than those found in a school laboratory.
Prof Jon Preece, from the university's school of chemistry, helped launch the centre, which is based at the university and has been called the Collaborative Research Network in Nanotechnology.
He said: "Nanotechnology is at the forefront of breakthroughs in medicine, cosmetics and industry, and at the very limit of present scientific knowledge.
"It is the technology of the very small, sometimes known as microscience. We look at things that are 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. In this world, new laws of physics apply."
