AMBER, the Science Foundation Ireland funded materials science centre, hosted in Trinity College Dublin, has created the world’s smallest nano statuette in celebration of all of the great Irish talent nominated for this year’s Oscars. As Ireland continues to grow its international reputation for excellent science and research, AMBER wanted to recognise another area which is growing Ireland’s international reputation in excellence – the Oscars! The width of the nano statuette’s head is approximately 25 nanometres or 20,000 times smaller than the width of a full stop. This is in comparison to the actual Oscar statuettes given out on the night, which stand approximately 35cm tall and also weigh more than 3.5kg. This year AMBER’s celebrations for the Academy Awards will be off the nano-scale! With a record number of Irish nominees at the Oscars this year, AMBER prepared their own award for the hopeful candidates.

World's smallest nano statuette was milled using the neon beam of AMBER's Zeiss Orion Nanofab


The world’s smallest nano statuette was milled using the neon beam of AMBER’s Zeiss Orion Nanofab – which is an instrument that can image and machine nanostructures of less than 10 nanometres (one nanometre is one billionth of a metre) with speed and precision. This nano statuette was actually milled onto a fragment of gold to ensure it was completely red carpet ready! Mary Colclough of AMBER, said: “As we all wait with bated breath this Sunday evening, to see if any of our Irish nominees take home a golden statuette, we at AMBER can rest safe knowing that even if Ireland doesn’t win big at the Oscars, all the nominees will have, at the very least, taken home the world’s smallest nano statuette. After all - good things do come in small sizes! "Ireland as a country is paving the way for so many industries internationally at the moment. Currently we are ranked second in the world for nanoscience and third in the world for the quality of our materials science research. "As Ireland’s leading material sciences research centre, we feel this small nano-token was the least we could do to recognise the nominees’ outstanding achievements and the importance of marking a place for Ireland internationally, across all industries. "The Oscar statuette was actually originally designed by a Dublin-born man, Cedric Gibbons, so it’s only right that the newest version of the accolade (our world’s smallest nano statuette) be created here in Ireland. Best of luck to all our nominees!” The process involved in creating the world’s smallest nano statuette can be viewed at this link, https://youtu.be/tjVm_i2DvXw