Robert A. Freitas Jr. (born 1952) is an American nanotechnologist.

Freitas was born in Camden, Maine. His father worked in agriculture and his mother was a homemaker. Freitas married Nancy, his childhood sweetheart in 1974.^[1]

In 1974, Freitas earned a bachelor's degree in both physics and psychology from Harvey Mudd College, and in 1978, he received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. He has written more than 150 technical papers, book chapters, and popular articles on scientific, engineering, and legal topics.^[2]

Freitas interests include nanorobotics,^[3] how nanotechnology can extend the life of humans,^[4] self-replicating machines,^[5] and Cryonics.^[1]

In 1980, Freitas and William Gilbreath were participants in a NASA study regarding "Advanced Automation for Space Missions",^[6] and they presented the feasibility of self-replicating machines in space, using advanced artificial intelligence and automation technologies.^[7][8]

Freitas began writing his Nanomedicine book series in 1994.^[9] Volume I, published in October 1999 by Landes Bioscience while Freitas was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing. Volume IIA was published in October 2003 by Landes Bioscience.^[10]

In 2004, Freitas and Ralph Merkle coauthored and published Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines, a comprehensive survey of the field of physical and hypothetical self-replicating machines.^[11]

In 2009, Freitas was awarded the Feynman Prize^[12] in theoretical nanotechnology. Afterwards, he was granted the first patent for a Mechanosynthesis tool which he developed while working at Zyvex. The tool is theoretically to be used in molecular engineering.^[13][14]

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