Israeli scientists put Bible on chip smaller than pinhead

Agence France-Presse
Last updated 11:56pm (Mla time) 12/18/2007 

JERUSALEM — Israeli scientists said on Tuesday they have created the world’s smallest Bible, fitting a Hebrew-language version of the holy book on a gold-coated silicon chip smaller than a pinhead.

Researchers from Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology, were able to pack the 308,428-word Hebrew Bible — known to most as the Old Testament — on a 0.5 millimeter square, Ohad Zohar, who directed the project, told Agence France-Presse.

“This is the world’s tiniest Bible,” Zohar said. “The Guinness Book of World Records has a Bible 50 times bigger.”

The scientists managed their feat by sending focused beams of tiny particles, called gallium ions, onto the surface of the silicon chip.

“By sending a particle beam towards various points on the substrate, we can etch any pattern of points, especially one that represents text,” said Zohar, a physics doctoral student.

The nano-Bible was developed by the Haifa-based institute as part of an educational program aimed at increasing interest in nanoscience among teenagers.

The scientists now want to take pictures of the miniature Bible and blow it up to a seven-by-seven meter (yard) poster, which will make it “possible to read the entire Bible with the naked eye,” he said