Biomimicry
Fighting microorganisms through the strangest way
A Brief History of this Technology
2000
2002
The development of this technology was funded by the Navy to prevent algae and barnacles from growing on the hulls of ships and was developed by Dr. Anthony Brennan who was a Materials Science and Engineering professor at the University of Florida. After studying what animals had remained barnacle free, he found that on closer inspection the skin of a shark is ridged so much that nothing can grow on it. He began developing a material inspired by the skin of sharks.
2005
2007
The years of research paid off with a microscopically patterned material that had groves similar to shark skin. It was named Sharklet and tested on bacterial growth. Bacteria colonies were successfully controlled and hindered from multiplying. This new technology led to the founding of the company Sharklet Technologies,Inc.
2008
Sharklet debuted in shark week of 2008. The segment spoke about the Navy's reason for financing the technology and tested the material in the ocean on the hull of a boat. The test proved successful, increasing popularity for Sharklet and its uses.
2010
2013
As popularity for Sharklet grew, another party became interested. Tiger airlines of Singapore, unveiled the first A320 aircraft to be retrofitted in Asia with Sharklets. The grooved surface of Sharklet on the wings would create areas of low pressure and reduce drag. The plane called 9M-AQQ, flying for Air Asia, had made “history" as the first Sharklet Equipped A320.
2014
The Denver 7 on Abc network asked a company called "AURORA, Colo" on their thoughts about Sharklet. They believed "Sharklet's technology could keep dirty devices from making us sick, but it's not just smartphone surfaces that could benefit."
"In hospitals right now, about 2 million a year get what are called hospital-acquired infections. We spend about $30 billion a year treating those," says Spiecker. "About 100,000 people die a year."
2015
"All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work."
-Calvin Coolidge-
Today this technology has many applications in different fields. But before the first prototype was made, there were events that are chronologically charted below.