  When a macroscopic metallic wire is subject to tensile stress, it necks down
smoothly as it elongates. We show that nanowires with radii comparable to the
Fermi wavelength display remarkably different behavior. Using concepts from
fluid dynamics, a PDE for nanowire shape evolution is derived from a
semiclassical energy functional that includes electron-shell effects. A rich
dynamics involving movement and interaction of kinks connecting locally stable
radii is found, and a new class of universal equilibrium shapes is predicted.
