In the late 1860s, Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemistry professor, devised the periodic table of elements. In 1989, when Don Eigler, a noted physicist and leading researcher in nanotechnology, used a scanning tunneling microscope to move 35 individual xenon atoms into a pattern that spelled out “IBM,” the scientific world witnessed how atoms can be manipulated to potentially build molecular-sized materials and machines.

Ten-Nine Technologies, a Tulsa-based company founded by inventor Paige Johnson, is a modern-day phenomenon rooted in these two defining discoveries. The company uses chemistry to develop new nano-scale materials for applications in the new economy.

Johnson, whose background is in inorganic synthesis and nano-analysis, was engaged in research at the University of Tulsa when she was approached by a Tulsa angel investor with a suggestion and a sum of money.

“The suggestion was that I form a business to work on technology that would be useful to the world,” she said, “and that’s how I got my start.”