Chris Toumey

Interpersonal discussion following citizen engagement about nanotechnology: What, if anything, do they say?

The current study explores interpersonal discussion following participation in a novel program of citizen engagement about nanotechnology. Participants answered closed- and open-ended questions about their discursive behavior in a postengagement survey. The study seeks to address whether organizers of citizen engagement can expect participants to extend the impacts of engagement beyond direct participants through interpersonal discussion. Respondents reported moderate levels of postengagement discussion and appeared to say positive things about both nanotechnology and the experts who contributed to the engagement program. Respondents also reported primarily talking about nanotechnology in terms of scientific progress while using a range of fairness and competence frames to discuss experts and the program.

Science and democracy

The future of nanotechnology depends on public acceptance, says Chris Toumey, so the nanotechnology community needs to listen to public opinion.

Plenty of room, plenty of history.

A 1959 lecture by Richard Feynman has become an important document in the history of nanotechnology but, as Chris Toumey reports, there are disagreements about when it became important, and why.

Truth and Beauty at the Nanoscale

ABSTRACT New forms of science sometimes raise issues about the relation between an object and an image of the object. What is a faithful reproduction? How do technical processes affect the image? Nanoscale images evoke these issues. To enhance our visual knowledge of nanoscale objects, the author revisits early cubist theory. This leads to suggestions in a neo-cubist spirit for making and seeing nanoscale images.

35 atoms that changed the nanoworld

It is 20 years since researchers at IBM spelt out the name of their company with atoms. Chris Toumey looks at the story behind a landmark in nanotechnology.

Democratizing nanotech, then and now

What progress has been made in efforts to engage the public in decisions about nanotechnology over the past five years? Chris Toumey asks various experts in the field.

Cubism at the nanoscale

Some of the most famous images in nanoscience and technology have been produced by scanning probe microscopes but, as Chris Toumey explains, there is much more to these images than meets the eye.

Less is Moore.

Predictions for the development of microelectronics provide a valuable example about the virtues of measured promises in nanotechnology, as Chris Toumey explains.

The man who understood the Feynman machine

Everyone has heard of Feynman, Binnig and Rohrer, and the scanning tunnelling microscope, but where does Conrad Schneiker fit in? Chris Toumey explains.

Modern Creationism and Scientific Authority

Much of modern creationist thought is obviously generated by fundamentalist theology, but there is another major influence at work — namely, the cultural-historical dynamics of the social role of scientific authority in American life. This paper describes a variety of modern creationist positions on the merits and credibility of scientific authority, and then analyzes that situation in terms of the history of three cultural models of science that circulate in American popular culture. It concludes, first, that creationist attitudes about scientific authority represent an interesting problem in their own right; and, second, that the social role of scientific authority is both varied and complex.