Microscopic Bible
“…from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” [2.Timothy 3:15,16]
On December 20, 2007, Israeli scientists in Jerusalem announced that they had successfully inscribed the entire Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible on an area smaller than a pinhead. The nanotechnology experts at the Technion Institute in Haifa say the text surface measures less than 1/100th of a square inch. They chose the Jewish Bible to highlight how vast quantities of information can be stored in minimum amounts of space.
According to Guinness World Records, the tiny Bible is now the world’s smallest. The previous smallest copy of the Bible originated in Australia and measured about an inch square and one quarter of an inch thick and contained 1,514 pages. With this recent Bible it only took about an hour to etch the 300,000 words of the Old Testament onto a tiny silicon surface smaller than a grain of sugar. The microscopic nano-Bible was written using a scientific device called FIB – Focused Ion Beam. With the aid of this device it was possible to blast focused beams of tiny particles called gallium ions towards a specific object. When the particles hit the object they cause the gold atoms plating the silicon surface to bounce off, thus etching it. This is similar to digging a shallow hole in the earth using a water jet from a hose. They hope to use the technology in the future as a way to store vast amounts of data on bio-molecules and DNA.
The plan of the Technion Institute was to photograph the nanoBible using a scanning electron microscope, with the goal of enlarging the photo 10,000 times and displaying it on a giant 23-foot wall in their physics facility. It would then be possible to read the entire Bible with the naked eye.
It seems a bit strange to shrink the Bible down then blow it up! But whatever its size, the Bible is God’s Word. It is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12); it is proven (Psalm 18:30); it is “able to make you wise for salvation” (2.Timothy 3:15). Best of all, it leads us to a relationship with Jesus – the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
