Robert A. Freitas Jr. is a Senior Research Fellow, one of four researchers, at the nonprofit foundation Institute for Molecular Manufacturing (IMM) in Palo Alto, California. He holds a 1974 Bachelor's degree majoring in both physics and psychology from Harvey Mudd College, and a 1978 Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Santa Clara University. He has written more than 150 technical papers, book chapters, or popular articles on a diverse set of scientific, engineering, and legal topics. He co-edited the 1980 NASA feasibility analysis of self-replicating space factories and later authored the first detailed technical design study of a hypothetical medical nanorobot ever published in a refereed medical journal. Downtown Palo Alto Palo Alto is a city in Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA, named for a tree called El Palo Alto. ... State nickname: The Golden State Official languages English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Senators Dianne Feinstein (D) Barbara Boxer (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 4. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... Since antiquity, people have tried to understand the behavior of matter: why unsupported objects drop to the ground, why different materials have different properties, and so forth. ... Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul or mind, logos/-ology = study of) is an academic and applied field involving the study of mind and behavior. ... Harvey Mudd College is a highly selective, private college of science, engineering, and mathematics, located in Claremont, California. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... J.D. is an abbreviation for the Latin Juris Doctor, also called Doctor of Jurisprudence, and is the law degree typically awarded by an accredited U.S. law school to a student who has successfully completed three years of study. ... J.D. redirects here; for alternate uses, see J.D. (disambiguation) J.D. is an abbreviation for the Latin Juris Doctor, also called a Doctor of Law or Doctorate of Jurisprudence, and is the law degree typically awarded by an accredited U.S. law school after successfully completing three years... Santa Clara University is a private, co-educational Roman Catholic university in the United States. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... NASA Logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Self-replication is the process by which some things make copies of themselves. ... Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA) Outer space, also called just space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the Universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. ... A factory (previously manufactory) or manufacturing plant is a large industrial building where workers manufacture goods or products. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with nanorobotics. ... Medicine on the Web NLM (National Library of Medicine, contains resources for patients and healthcare professionals) Virtual Hospital (digital health sciences library by the University of Iowa) Online Medical Information- medical news, links and resources Collection of links to free medical resources Category: ... A journal (through French from late Latin diurnalis, daily) is a daily record of events or business. ...

In 1977-78 Robert Freitas created the concept Sentience Quotient (SQ) as a way to describe the information processing rate in living organisms or computers. For a discussion see Freitas article "Xenopsychology" linked below, first published in the April 1984 edition of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ... The tower of a personal computer. ...

Freitas is authoring Nanomedicine, the first multiple-book-length technical discussion of the potential medical applications of hypothetical molecular nanotechnology and hypothetical medical nanorobotics. Volume I was published in October 1999 by Landes Bioscience while Freitas was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing . He published Volume IIA in October 2003 with Landes Bioscience while serving as a Research Scientist at Zyvex Corp., a nanotechnology company headquartered in Richardson, Texas, during 2000-2004. Freitas is now completing Nanomedicine Volumes IIB and III and is consulting on hypothetical diamond mechanosynthesis and hypothetical molecular assembler design at IMM. Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology and related research. ... Molecular nanotechnology (MNT) is the engineering of tiny machines — the projected ability to build things from the bottom up, using techniques and tools being developed today. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for October, 2003. ... A scientist is a person who is an expert in at least one area of science and who uses the scientific method to research that area. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with mechanochemistry. ... A molecular assembler is a molecular machine capable of assembling other molecules given instructions, energy, and a supply of smaller building block molecules to work from. ...

Also in 2004, Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle coauthored and published Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines, the first survey of the field of physical and hypothetical self-replicating machines ever published. The book is available online in HTML format. Ralph C. Merkle (born 2 February 1952) is a pioneer in public key cryptography, and more recently a researcher and speaker on molecular nanotechnology and cryonics. ...

See also

• K. Eric Drexler, Ralph Merkle

Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for popularizing the potential of hypothetical molecular nanotechnology. ... Ralph C. Merkle (born 2 February 1952) is a pioneer in public key cryptography, and more recently a researcher and speaker on molecular nanotechnology and cryonics. ...

External links

• Robert Freitas's website (including his publications)
• Nanomedicine website Freitas' Nanomedicine book series on medical nanorobotics, freely available online
• Institute for Molecular Manufacturing website
• A paper on Respirocytes (artificial red cells) by Freitas (first medical nanorobot design paper ever published)
• A paper on Microbivores (artificial white cells) by Freitas
• Xenopsychology (including the Sentience Quotient) by Freitas
• Molecular assembler website
• Report on self-replicating space factories 1980 NASA Study edited by Freitas
• Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines first survey of field, by Freitas and Merkle
• Who's Who in the Nanospace