The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was the era of the big bang of modern science, with Thomson's discovery of the electron in 1897, Einstein's announcement of the special theory of relativity in 1905, and Born's announcement of quantum mechanics in 1924. Around 1950, these major inventions and discoveries in the basic sciences matured and blossomed, and there was a succession of major discoveries and inventions in applied sciences, such as the discovery of transistor operation by Brattain and Bourdain in 1947 and the invention of the laser by Townes and Shaulow, which led to the development of ultra-high density integrated circuits, and with these, the concept of nanotechnology was born. The concept of nanotechnology was born. This concept of nanotechnology evolved into the bottom-up concept of nanotechnology with the discovery of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes.
The emergence of nanotechnology is bringing about major changes in conventional medicine and medical care based on life sciences. The concept of material science-based medicine and medical treatment, i.e., nanomedicine, has emerged, including single molecule manipulation and molecular imaging using fluorescent probes, drug delivery using quantum dots, vesicles, and clusters, creation of novel biochips and biosensors by nanofabrication of substrate surfaces, and diagnosis and treatment using spectroscopy with nano-level spatial resolution. The concept of nanomedicine, i.e., medicine and medical treatment based on material science, has emerged.