The nanoTruck

Getting nanotechnology out of the laboratories and giving the general public an opportunity to become acquainted with this promising field of technology at an early stage – this is the ultimate goal which the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is pursuing with its new information campaign: “nanoTruck – High-Tech from the Nanocosmos”. But what is the best way to reach as many people as possible all over Germany? And how
can the complex world of nanotechnology be best explained in an interesting, informative and concise way? The answer to these questions is the nanoTruck, an exhibition and communications centre on wheels, which presents nanotechnology live on two levels.

Mobile, multifunctional and a real “eye-catcher” – the nanoTruck presents nanotechnology on a very attractive platform: 16.5 metres long, with a presentation and an event area which can be automatically opened out on two levels. The exterior of the road-show vehicle makes it immediately clear what is going on inside, depicting people of all ages - a cross-section of
modern society - who express their opinions on nanotechnology. A family, a businessman, a scientist, a senior citizen and two young people make short statements on what nanotechnology means to them and what they expect from this new technology in the future. As participants in the public dialogue on the opportunities and challenges of this fascinating technology, they are intended to make people curious about the world of the most minute dimensions and encourage them to become involved in the discussion.

The key technology that everything is about is symbolised on the outside of the nanoTruck by spherical shapes that are arranged as a kind of “carpet”. These are silicon atoms, whose structure is known as the 7x7 structure in the nanocosmos. Two scientists, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for their design of the scanning tunnelling microscope, first made this “seven-times-seven” structure visible under that microscope. Each motif on the outside of the nanoTruck is painted in vivid colours – the 7x7 carpet as well as the spheres of different sizes hovering above it to illustrate how the atoms and molecules organize themselves. They attract people’s attention and make them curious about what the exhibition truck has to offer inside.