Nanotechnologists

Many consider 1959 to be “year one” of the modern nanoscience industry. Professor Richard Feynman of the California Institute of Technology gave a now-famous speech in which he sought to inspire the scientific community to embrace the study of nanoengineering (a term that wasn’t actually coined until 1974).

In the 1980s, the fields of nanoscience and nanoengineering grew rapidly as scientists invented new technology to view and manipulate nanoparticles, as well as discovered nanomaterials such as Buckminsterfullerene and colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals that could be used to create new nanoproducts.

From 2006 to 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy founded five nanoscale science research centers to investigate and develop the unique characteristics of materials and phenomena at the nanoscale level.

Today, the number of applications for nanomaterials continues to grow. According to a January 2024 report from BCC Research, the global nanotechnology market was expected to grow from $68 billion in 2023 to reach $183.7 billion by 2028, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22 percent from 2023 through 2028. Some issues, however, will hamper growth in the nanotechnology market, such as concerns over the commercialization of nanotechnology; challenges with scaling up production development and manufacturing infrastructure; and environmental, health, and safety risks.