This article explores nanoscale research activities with reference to epistemology, changing orientation in research questions, divisions of labour, contact with industry, and whether nanoresearch constitutes or does not constitute a fresh science paradigm. Data has been collected for a sample of laureates of the Feynman Nanotechnology Prize, begun in 1993 for advances in theory and in experimentation. Particular attention is given to the place of disciplines and interdisciplinarity and to the emergence of new forms of work relations. While chemistry comprises the home discipline for most winners, during the last eight years many of the scientists interviewed in our project have employed biological materials in their work, regardless of their disciplinary hub. Epitaxy, nano architecture and structure, and the affects of nano confinement on phenomena emerge as central issues. The epistemology of simulation-based theory and experimentation is increasingly paramount. Images similarly emerge as key to nanoscale epistemology. Industry proves far less central to the activities of this group of scientists than we had initially anticipated. A very thin minority of practitioners believes that nanoscale research represents a new paradigm, yet argument in favor of this interpretation nevertheless often introduces important cognitive and epistemological questions.
Nanoscale research; Paradigm; Interdisciplinarity; Division of labour; Epistemology; Simulation; Image; Chemistry; Biology; Epitaxy