Timeline: 16 Key Moments in Nanotech's Evolution

Dec. 29, 1959
Richard Feynman gives a talk at the American Physical Society meeting titled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom." Without ever using the word, he describes foundational concepts in nanotechnology. "What I want to talk about is the problem of manipulating and controlling things on a small scale," he reportedly said.

1974
Japanese professor Norio Taniguchi gives a name to the new field in a scientific paper titled: "On the Basic Concept of 'Nano-Technology.'"

1981
Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer invent the scanning tunneling microscope, which for the first time enables scientists to see and manipulate individual atoms.

1985
Researchers at Rice University discover fullerenes (more commonly known as buckyballs, named after famed futurist R. Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the multifaceted geodesic dome), which can be used to make carbon nanotubes, today one of the most ubiquitous nanomaterials.

1986
At the IBM Research Laboratory in Zürich, Calvin Quate and Christoph Gerber collaborate with Binnig, the German physicist, to invent the atomic force microscope. It becomes one of the foremost tools for imaging, measuring and manipulating matter at the nanoscale, which is at the very core of this technology.

1989
At IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., company scientists Don Eigler and Erhard Schweizer spell out the company logo using 35 xenon atoms, further demonstrating how nanoparticles can be manipulated.

1991
The carbon nanotube is created by Sumio Iijima of NEC.

1998
The White House's National Science and Technology Council forms the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology. Its mission: to sponsor workshops and studies to define nanoscale science and technology and forecast possible developments.

Getty Images

1999
Consumer products making use of nanotechnology begin appearing in the global marketplace.

2001
President Bill Clinton establishes the National Nanotechnology Initiative to coordinate federal research and development efforts and promote U.S. competitiveness in nanotechnology.

2002
The European Union launches gatherings called Nanoforum to educate the public about nanotechnology.

2003
Congress enacts the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act. The act provides a statutory foundation for the NNI, establishes programs, assigns agency responsibilities, authorizes funding levels and initiates research to address key issues.

Dec. 10, 2008
The National Research Council criticizes the NNI's environmental, health and safety research strategy; the NNI pushes back, saying it disagrees with the NRC's overall conclusion.

Sept. 29, 2009
The EPA outlines a new research strategy to better understand how manufactured nanomaterials may harm human health and the environment. It also announces that manufacturers and users of certain nanomaterials must inform the EPA of their planned applications.

Jan. 8, 2010
In the United Kingdom, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee issues a lengthy report on nanotechnology and food, warning its country's food industry not to hide the use of nanotechnology.

March 2010
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee continues gathering evidence on revisions to the 30-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act. The EPA says that additional language it is requesting would make it easier to regulate the commercial use of nanomaterial.

Sources: NNI, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, EU Commission, MIT and other universities.

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