Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at atomic and molecular scales, originated as a scientific concept with physicist Richard Feynman's influential 1959 talk and was popularized by K. Eric Drexler's 1986 book Engines of Creation. However, fictional precursors explored similar ideas even earlier, such as Boris Zhitkov's 1931 story "Microhands" depicting microscopic manipulators and Arthur C. Clarke's 1956 "The Next Tenants" featuring tiny machines.
Since then, nanotechnology has become a versatile and frequent plot device in speculative fiction, often used to justify unusual or futuristic occurrences, from advanced materials to self-replicating robots. Notable literary examples include Stanislaw Lem's 1984 novel Peace on Earth, featuring destructive bacteria-sized nanorobots, and Greg Bear's 1985 Blood Music, where engineered cells learn to manipulate matter on an atomic scale. The T-1000 'Nanomorph' from the 1991 Terminator 2 novelization also illustrates its destructive potential. Its profound societal impact is explored in Kim Stanley Robinson's 1992 Red Mars, utilizing carbon nanotubes for a space elevator, and Neal Stephenson's 1995 The Diamond Age, depicting a future where nanotechnology is commonplace and central to everyday life.