With a background in applied physics and a track record of deep thinking on the relationship between digital technology and the physical world, Neil Gershenfeld has promoted a revolution in our understanding of where computer technology is going. He sees nano-technology changing the relationship between information (bits) and physical systems (atoms).

Get used to the idea, he says, that information will control physics, that with digital fabrication anything that can be represented in bits can be manufactured in a small desktop factory. Gershenfeld and his colleagues at his Center for Bits and Atoms on the MIT campus see a digital-fab future in which manufactured objects are simply the output of a digital device. Want to lend your bike to a friend in Australia? Just send him a digital file that will construct it locally. A cool idea to be sure, but when the implications are worked out, digital fabrication could be the most disruptive technology ever. Indeed, Gershenfeld says, digital fabs might very well create themselves, a possibility that could sweep away the entire business supply chain.

Anything but a dry academic, Gershenfeld displays a contagious excitement, a lively sense of humor and a Vegas comic's timing. When he's presenting his revolutionary approach, laughter reverberates in the halls. Still, Gershenfeld never wanders from the deep concepts of physics that drive his vision.