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Science 29 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5564, pp. 2418 - 2421
DOI: 10.1126/science.1070821
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Viewpoint

Self-Assembly at All Scales

George M. Whitesides,* Bartosz Grzybowski

Self-assembly is the autonomous organization of components into patterns or structures without human intervention. Self-assembling processes are common throughout nature and technology. They involve components from the molecular (crystals) to the planetary (weather systems) scale and many different kinds of interactions. The concept of self-assembly is used increasingly in many disciplines, with a different flavor and emphasis in each.

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gwhitesides{at}gmwgroup.harvard.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)