University alumnus Bob Gower had his postretirement plans
all worked out. After leaving Lyondell Petrochemical in 1996, he would buy
some small companies and improve their operations.
“I planned to do that on a small scale,” he said.
Instead, he now finds himself on the leading edge of what the National Science Foundation predicts will be a $1 trillion global marketplace by 2015.
It all started with a phone call from a friend who invited him to a meeting with the late Dr. Richard Smalley, a professor at Houston’s Rice University and world-renowned pioneer in nanotechnology. Smalley, along with two other scientists, had received the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering fullerene, a new form of carbon. The breakthrough discovery led to an explosion of nanotechnology research, including Smalley's development of the carbon nanotube.
“I don't know anything about it, and I don't know if I'd be willing to invest or not,” Gower told the friend who invited him to meet Smalley, “but I don't know any Nobel Prize winners, so I'll come just for that.”
During that fateful meeting, Gower became increasingly intrigued as Smalley described possible applications for carbon nanotubes—stronger car bumpers and bulletproof vests, fuel cells capable of powering cell phones and laptops for weeks at a stretch, maybe even a more effective way to fight cancer.
Carbon nanotubes, often called “buckytubes,” resemble tiny rolled-up pieces of chicken wire that measure only a billionth of a meter in diameter. The tubes, made of carbon atoms, are noted for their strength (100 times stronger than steel at one-sixth the weight), electrical conductivity, and thermal properties. They show great potential for a wide range of commercial applications.
“We decided this was something worth trying to build a business on,” Gower said. “What we're trying to do is to take a transforming technology—transforming in the same sense as computers and the Internet—into commercial activity.”
Gower invested in Houston-based Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc. (CNI) and signed on as president and CEO. The company's subsequent growth and success confirm that the marriage of Smalley's patents in nanotube production and Gower's business acumen is a winning combination.
“It's one thing to have a strong patent position, but it doesn't make much difference if you can't make and sell the material,” said Gower.
Gower had learned many important life lessons throughout his career. After earning a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University in 1963, he worked in research and later moved into operational and managerial positions for companies such as Sinclair and Atlantic Richfield before joining Lyondell, where he became president and then chairman.
“Getting the Ph.D. was extremely important to me,” Gower said. “It convinced me that I'm relatively capable and can do a wide range of things.”
Family and community have also been important to Gower throughout his career. He and his wife have been married for 46 years and have three daughters, all living in the Houston area, where Gower has been active in his church, with the United Way, and on the board of a dropout prevention program.
Gower credits the late Edward Leete, a professor of organic chemistry who was his advisor at the University, with helping him acquire the knowledge and confidence he needed to become a successful business executive and entrepreneur. Running a company requires total self-confidence and the certainty that you can get the job done, said Gower, and Leete expected no less from his doctoral students.
“His typical manner was to give whatever amount of assistance you asked for,” Gower said. “I wanted to prove I could do things on my own, and for the most part, he was willing to let me do that.”
CNI's success certainly proves that Gower is adept at doing things on his own. Today the company has about 700 clients, many of which are located in Asia. Among them is South Korean electronics company Samsung, which hopes to have a flat-screen nano TV on the market by late 2006. Meanwhile, corporate research and development departments around the world are racing to perfect and patent other applications for nanotubes before their competitors.
So far, CNI has been supplying nanotubes free to many of its customers for research purposes. In exchange, if any of those customers markets a product that uses nanotubes, the client will purchase at least three-quarters of its supply from CNI. The company has been ramping up its production capabilities so that when the demand hits—when, not if, according to industry observers—CNI will be ready.
Although CNI is not the small-scale business venture he'd planned for his retirement, Gower is certain that small-scale technology is going to be big.
“It's hard to think of an industry that wouldn't have an application for nanotubes,” Gower said. “In time, we'll see them in almost everything.”
