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Nanoethics—A Way of Humanization of Technology for the Common Benefit

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Abstract

In this paper we summarize a brief history of nanoscience and nanotechnology by documenting the milestones on the roadmap of this branch. We discuss the new properties of materials and structures characteristic for the nanoworld. The role of social sciences and humanities in nanoscience is highlighted.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In 1905 A. Einstein explained the Brownian movement of small particles on the surface of liquid by their collisions with molecules of the liquid.

  2. 2.

    Almost 40 definitions of nanomaterials and nanoparticles were summarized by Boholm and Arvidsson (2016). About 40% of them refer to the nanoscale properties of nano-entities differing from bulk properties, 60% of definitions involve various quantitative boundaries of nanostructure dimensions between 0.1 and 500 nm. Two definitions refer to the surface area of nanostructures >60 m2/cm3. According to our opinion the best choice of the upper boundary is 200 nm corresponding to the interface between electron and optical microscope resolution.

  3. 3.

    The Kavli prize was established by Norwegian entrepreneur and philanthropist Fred Kavli. It is awarded every two years since 2008 in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by grants: VEGA 2/0010/15, SRDA-14-0891 and CNR-SAS 2016-2018 program.

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Correspondence to Štefan Luby .

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Luby, Š., Lubyová, M. (2019). Nanoethics—A Way of Humanization of Technology for the Common Benefit. In: Kelso, J. (eds) Learning To Live Together: Promoting Social Harmony. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90659-1_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90659-1_21

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