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[email protected] Recent Innovations in Chemical Engineering, 2014, 7, 000-000 1 A Short History of Photosensitive Glass Patents Marcio Luis Ferreira Nascimento1,2* 1Vitreous Materials Lab, Institute of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo s/n, Idioms Center Pavilion (PAF IV), Ondina University Campus, 40170-115 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; 2PROTEC/PEI — Postgraduate Program in Industrial Engineering, Depart- ment of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic School, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Aristides Novis 2, Federação, 40210-630 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil Received: January 00, 2015 Revised: March 00, 2015 Accepted: March 00, 2015 Abstract: The development of photosensitive glass (PG) has a remarkable history since its first com- mercial discovery in the 1940s. The manufacturing of PG is one of the most widely reported methods M.L.F. Nascimento for special glass manufacturing. PGs are capable of forming permanent photographic images when subjected to light, pro- viding security, high quality and productivity. The first U. S. patent about photosensitive glass was filed on December 8th, 1943, and published July 18th, 1950, by Stanley Donald Stookey. A historical perspective about photosensitive glass rep- resents an important step for future applications. PG has been considered one of the most interesting research areas with potential industrial applications. A number of companies and institutions have explored the usefulness of such special glasses. In this paper, we investigated the number of published manuscripts and patents and determined the correlation of research activities to the production of new PG materials. The United States, Japan and China have been leaders in photo- sensitive glass development and have contributed to an impressive rise of activity in PG based on a number of new publi- cations, author keywords, affiliations and primary characterization techniques.