Thursday, September 30, 2004

Clinton makes nanomention of large legacy


I'm doing some research today at the Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham, Mich. (It has a very dependable broadband connection and quiet, comfortable surroundings -- a perfect place to work), when I found Bill Clinton's

in the new books section.

The word "nanotechnology" was not important enough, apparently, to make the index, but I did find a passing mention when I looked up the Human Genome Project. Clinton writes (on the bottom of page 889):

    In a speech to scientists at California Institute of Technology, I unveiled a proposed increase of nearly $3 billion in research, which included $1 billion for AIDS and other biomedical purposes and $500 million for nanotechnology, and major increases for basic science, space, and clean energy.

And that's it. Kind of a disappointment. The National Nanotechnology Initiative might turn out to be one of Clinton's most-important legacies. I would have loved to find out more about what he was thinking as he fired this nano shot heard 'round the world.

Text, video and audio of the Jan. 21, 2000, speech can be found here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, that was worth noting.

Steve @
Opportunities

Danila Medvedev said...

Important blog post about important speech about important subject.

In other words, thank you.