* 1952 – Radushkevich and Lukyanovich publish a paper in the Soviet Journal of Physical Chemistry showing hollow graphitic carbon fibers that are 50 nanometers in diameter.
* 1955 – Hofer, Sterling and McCarney observe a growth of tubular carbon filaments, of 10–200 nm in diameter.
* 1958 – Hillert and Lange observe a growth of nanoscale tubular carbon filaments from n-heptane decomposition on iron at about 1000 °C.