Carbon nanotubes might have contributed to the strength of Damascus steel, though this was unknown at the time.
[]1952
Radushkevich and Lukyanovich publish a paper in the Soviet Journal of Physical Chemistry showing hollow graphitic carbon fibers that are 50 nanometers in diameter.[1]
[]1960
Bollmann and Spreadborough discuss friction properties of carbon due to rolling sheets of graphene in Nature. Electron Microscope picture clearly shows MWCNT[2]
[]1976
Oberlin, Endo and Koyama report CVD growth of nanometer-scale carbon fibers.[3]
Howard G. Tennent of Hyperion Catalysis issued a U.S. patent for graphitic, hollow core "fibrils".[6]
[]1991
Nanotubes discovered in the soot of arc discharge at NEC, by Japanese researcher Sumio Iijima.[7]
August — Nanotubes discovered in CVD by Al Harrington and Tom Maganas of Maganas Industries, leading to development of a method to synthesize monomolecular thin film nanotube coatings.[8]
Groups led by Donald S. Bethune at IBM[12] and Sumio Iijima at NEC[13] independently discover single-wall carbon nanotubes and methods to produce them using transition-metal catalysts.
[]1995
Swiss researchers are the first to demonstrate the electron emission properties of carbon nanotubes[14]. German inventors Till Keesmann and Hubert Grosse-Wilde predicted this property of carbon nanotubes earlier in the year in their patent application[15].
[]1997
First carbon nanotube single-electron transistors (operating at low temperature) are demonstrated by groups at Delft University[16] and UC Berkeley[17].
The first suggestion of using carbon nanotubes as optical antennas is made in the patent application of inventor Robert Crowley filed in January 1997[18].
[]1998
First carbon nanotube field-effect transistors are demonstrated by groups at Delft University[19] and IBM[20].
[]2000
First demonstration proving that bending carbon nanotubes changes their resistance[21]
[]2001
April — first report on a technique for separating semiconducting and metallic nanotubes.[22]
[]2002
January — Multi-walled nanotubes demonstrated to be fastest known oscillators (> 50 GHz).[23]
[]2003
September — NEC announced stable fabrication technology of carbon nanotube transistors[24]
[]2004
March — Nature published a photo of an individual 4 cm long single-wall nanotube (SWNT).[25]
[]2005
May — A prototype high-definition 10-centimetre flat screen made using nanotubes was exhibited.[26]
August — University of California finds Y-shaped nanotubes to be ready-made transistors.[27]
August — General Electric announced the development of an ideal carbon nanotube diode that operates at the "theoretical limit" (the best possible performance). A photovoltaic effect was also observed in the nanotube diode device that could lead to breakthroughs in solar cells, making them more efficient and thus more economically viable.[28]
August — Nanotube sheet synthesised with dimensions 5 × 100 cm.[29]
September — Applied Nanotech (Texas), in conjunction with six Japanese electronics firms, have created a prototype of a 25-inch TV using carbon nanotubes. The prototype TV does not suffer from "ghosting," as some types of digital TVs do.[30]
[]2006
The winning nanotube-enhanced bike
March — IBM announces that they have built an electronic circuit around a CNT.[31]
March — Nanotubes used as a scaffold for damaged nerve regeneration.[32]
May — Method of placing nanotube accurately is developed by IBM.[33]
June — Gadget invented by Rice University that can sort nanotubes by size and electrical properties[34]
^Oberlin, A.; M. Endo, and T. Koyama (1976). "Filamentous growth of carbon through benzene decomposition". J. Cryst. Growth32: 335. doi:10.1016/0022-0248(76)90115-9.
