Applied Nanotechnology

CHAPTER 2 Science, Technology and Wealth

Our knowledge about the universe grows year by year. There is a relentless accumulation of facts, many of which are reported in scientific journals, but also at conferences (and which may, or may not, be written down in published conference proceedings) and in reports produced by private companies and government research institutes (including military ones) that may never be published—and some work is now posted directly on the internet, in a preprint archive, or in an online journal, or on a personal or institutional website. The printed realm constitutes the scientific literature.¹ Reliable facts, such as the melting temperature of tungsten, count as unconditional knowledge. Such knowledge does not ...