World's Tiniest Video by IBM: "A Boy and His Atom" Videos for Engineers
Scientists
from IBM have produced the world's smallest movie, made
by a stop-action photography type method. 242 individual still frames created and acquired by an in-house
scanning tunneling microscope were used to create "A Boy and His Atom."
Guinness World Records has certified it as a
record-setter (although I cannot find it on their website yet).
From the IBM press release: "A Boy and His
Atom" depicts a character named Atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a playful journey that includes dancing,
playing catch and bouncing on a trampoline. Set to a playful musical track, the movie represents a unique way to
convey science outside the research community. 'Capturing, positioning and shaping atoms to create an original
motion picture on the atomic-level is a precise science and entirely novel,' said Andreas Heinrich, Principle Investigator,
IBM Research. 'At IBM, researchers don't just read about science, we do it. This movie is a fun way to share the
atomic-scale world while opening up a dialogue with students and others on the new frontiers of math and science.'"