''Teeny Ted from Turnip Town'' (2007), published by
Robert Chaplin, is certified by ''
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' as the world's smallest reproduction of a printed book. The book was produced in the
Nano Imaging Laboratory at
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...
in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, Canada, with the assistance of SFU scientists Li Yang and
Karen Kavanagh.
["Nano lab produces world’s smallest book"]
Simon Fraser University. 11 April 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
The book's size is 0.07 mm x 0.10 mm. The letters are carved into 30 microtablets on a polished piece of single crystalline
silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ...
, using a focused-
gallium
Gallium is a chemical element with the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Discovered by French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875, Gallium is in group 13 of the periodic table and is similar to the other metals of the group ( alum ...
-
ion beam with a minimum diameter of 7
nanometer
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the molecular scale.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American and British English spelling differences#-re, ...
s (this was compared to the head of a pin at 2 mm, 2,000,000 nm, across). The book has its own ISBN, .
[
The story was written by Malcolm Douglas Chaplin and is "a fable about Teeny Ted’s victory in the turnip contest at the annual county fair."][
The book has been published in a limited edition of 100 copies by the laboratory and requires a scanning electron microscope to read the text.
In December 2012, a Library Edition of the book was published with a full title of ''Teeny Ted from Turnip Town & the Tale of Scale: A Scientific Book of Word Puzzles'' and an ISBN number . On the title page it is referred to as the "Large Print Edition of the World's Smallest Book". The book was published using funds from a successful ]Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...
campaign with contributors' names shown on the dust jacket."The World's Smallest Book - a large print edition"
Kickstarter. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
See also
* Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...
* Limited edition books
* List of nanotechnology applications
* '' A Boy and His Atom'', a stop-motion film created in a microscopic (molecular) scale
References
External links
"Tale of Teeny Ted said to be world's smallest book"
Reuters. April 11, 2007.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teeny Ted From Turnip Town
2007 books
Nanotechnology