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For thinking small, Landman honored by his peers

John Toon
Research News

A Georgia Tech physicist who used powerful computer simulations to predict how friction and lubrication would affect nanometer-scale mechanical systems is one of two scientists who will receive medals Dec. 4 from the Materials Research Society (MRS).

Uzi Landman, director of the Center for Computational Materials Science, will receive recognition from the MRS, the world’s largest materials professional society. The medal award is given to recognize “a specific outstanding recent discovery or advancement that is expected to have a major impact on the progress of any materials-related field.” Charles M. Lieber of Harvard University will also be honored.

Landman’s award is for the development and implementation of research methodologies that use molecular dynamics simulations to predict the often-surprising behavior that occurs at the nanoscale when surfaces of solid and liquid materials meet. Landman’s research team has examined the effects of friction and lubrication in these small-scale systems, predicting how such systems would behave long before they could be fabricated. Over time, most of their key predictions in this new science of nanotribology have been confirmed experimentally.

Performed on computers, the simulations use known laws of physics — including quantum mechanics — to predict how hundreds of thousands of molecules or atoms interact and respond to external influences. The resulting calculations will help engineers design smaller and smaller disk drives, nanometer-scale machines and even biomechanical implants used in the body.

A 1990 paper in the journal Science used large-scale molecular dynamics simulations done on large supercomputers to show that when a nickel tip was brought into close proximity to a sheet of gold, gold atoms would jump from the sheet to the probe.

“To our amazement, we found the gold atoms jumping to contact the nickel probe at short distances,” Landman recalled. “Then we did simulations in which we withdrew the tip after contact and found that a nanometer-sized wire made of gold was created. That gold would deform in this manner amazed us, because gold is not supposed to do this.”

The simulations were done several years before scientists began to make and measure the properties of wires on that size scale, and prior to the rise of the nanoscience and nanotechnology field.

“In many respects, Landman helped create the field of nanotribology as he contributed to both classical and quantum mechanical molecular dynamics simulation methodologies, leading to an understanding of the atomic origins underlying nanoscale tribological processes,” the MRS citation added.

The underlying theme behind all his work can be summed up as “small is different,” the title Landman will use during his medal presentation.

“New behavior emerges on the nanoscale,” he explained. “This new behavior creates interesting physical phenomena, and that is where the technological opportunities may lie. To take advantage of them, we must understand how these small systems behave.”

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