40 years revisited—look how much we’ve achieved!

What have we managed to achieve in four decades of Additive Manufacturing?

Today marks exactly 40 years since Charles Hull filed a patent application for Stereolithography — the world’s first additive technology.

August 8, 1984, has since been considered the symbolic date of the creation of 3D printing.

However, it’s not as obvious as it may seem…

Hull was not the first to develop this method. There were others.

Hull was not the first to file a patent, and his patent was not the first to be granted. There were others.

I have written a separate article on the origins of Stereolithography and all the nuances (and career tragedies) associated with it, which you can read on the 3DPrint.com portal.

But despite all this, there is a very significant reason why we should recognize Hull as the true creator of 3D printing.

It was Hull who built a working machine around this technology, found customers for it, established a company around it — and ultimately created a market.

Therefore, he is not just the inventor of “stereolithography — the world’s first additive technology,” but the creator of the entire business and market that grew around it.

So, additive manufacturing is 40 years old. Is that a lot or a little? Can we call a 40-year-old technology old?

What does 40 years of existence really mean?