Heres an interesting story. A man walks into a University and promises a big donation to fund a new nanotechnology centre. The state governor announces the gift and kicks in some extra money.
Two years later it turns out that the donor has been bankrupt since 1997, and claims that there has been a misunderstanding and that the money will be provided by someone else. In the meantime the donor has been attempting to purchase the controlling interest in one nanotechnology company in New York and been busy trying to arrange nanotechnology venture capital deals.
Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough sums it up. “It would be great if someone would just hand a check over. He says he’s going to do it. I don’t have a check. I wish it would be different, but it’s not.”
There’s something about nanotech that attracts some very odd people.