Norio Taniguchi

Norio Taniguchi (谷口 紀男, Taniguchi Norio; May 27, 1912 – November 15, 1999) was a professor at the Tokyo University of Science. He is best known for creating the term nano-technology in 1974. He used this term to describe special ways of working with very tiny parts of materials, like putting down thin layers or shaping materials using tiny particles called ions.

Taniguchi began his work by studying how to cut and shape very hard materials very precisely. At his university, he led important research using different kinds of energy beams, such as electricity, microwaves, electrons, light (like lasers), and ions, to shape materials at extremely small sizes.

From 1940 until the early 1970s, Taniguchi looked closely at how machining, or shaping materials, was changing. He correctly guessed that by the late 1980s, these methods would become so good that scientists could make things with sizes better than 100 nanometers, which is incredibly small—much smaller than the width of a human hair. His ideas helped lay the groundwork for the field of machining we use today.

Recognition

In May 1999, the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology gave Professor Taniguchi its first Lifetime Achievement Award in Bremen. They honored him for his important work in ultra-precision materials processing and for first using the term Nanotechnology in 1974. His ideas and hard work helped shape a key technology for the 21st Century.