Chuck Hull (75) is the co-founder, executive vice president and chief technology officer of 3D Systems. He is the inventor of the solid imaging process known as stereolithography (3D Printing), the first commercial rapid prototyping technology, and the STL file format. He made on more than 60 U.S. patents as well as other patents around the world in the fields of ion optics and rapid prototyping.

 

CNN sits down with Chuck Hull in Frankfurt, Germany talking about his incredible invention and 3D printing today. In 1983 when he got the idea of using the UV technology he was given a little lab to play and experiment. In his earlier experiment, when the materials cure from a liquid to a solid, they tend to shrink and they can distort. And nowadays, the process and chemistry has been vastly improved, says Hull.

 

"It's really blossomed just in the last few years -- in the sense of really rapid growth and recognition. There's a lots of things that contributed to that, I think: a lot of the medical applications catch peoples' imagination; certainly the maker movement, with low-cost machines getting hobbyists interested in inventing and building using 3D printing.

 

" But how has he felt along these long 30 years? "Well, you know I'm old enough that I should have retired long ago, but it's so interesting that I don't. It's a really interesting journey."

 

You can watch the video below: