George Eastman was perhaps one of the earliest and most high-profile examples of American entrepreneurship, dropping out of high school and founding Kodak in 1888. For the next century, Kodak enjoyed tremendous success through inventions designed to make photography accessible to amateurs. By 1976, Kodak sold 90% of the photographic film in the U.S. along with 85% of the cameras. At the center of Kodak’s success were some of the most talented materials scientists and chemists in the world. Understanding their reliance on high-quality chemicals, in 1920, George Eastman founded wholly owned subsidiary Tennessee Eastman Corporation, whose primary function was to manufacture chemicals for Kodak’s film products. By 1994, the subsidiary had spun off as a separate corporation. Eastman Chemical has since grown to become a Fortune 500 specialty chemicals company with over 14,000 employees and almost $10 billion in sales.
Understanding this history, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that another company with Kodak roots is developing materials for a new generation of imaging technologies. Cerion Advanced Materials, an 11-year-old specialty materials company based in Kodak’s hometown of Rochester, New York, has seen a significant uptick in requests for specialty nanomaterials for optical display coatings. It’s an arms race for energy savings, picture clarity and brightness between the major tablet, smart phone and television manufacturers, and in many cases, coatings that incorporate nanomaterials hold the key to unlocking performance improvements.