Nano chic: A million pieces of Pi on a pendant!

RENO, USA: Nanojems, a Reno-based microfabrication firm, has accomplished the Guinness worthy feat of engraving the first million digits of the infinite number pi on a crystal gem. The characters are so small that two digits can be etched on the end of a human hair.

"We believed we could do it, but this was a real test," said Jesse Adams, Ph.D., co-founder of Nanojems. "There was some amazing work done by our partners and vendors in pushing the limits of the computers and electron-beam writers to make a patterning mask with a million digits. The 3-inch-diameter test piece gives us a path for making much smaller pieces for pi pendants and lockets."

This creation is the first prototype for a Kickstarter project that has until 1 pm on Tuesday, August 27, 2013 to meet its funding goal and, if successful, then to continue the preparation of more and smaller gems.

Using its patented micro-engraving technology, Nanojems can engrave thousands of words on crystal and sapphire gems and mount these in pendants, lockets and display pieces. Each crystal comes with a serial number, letter of authenticity and a copy of the engraved text.

"We plan to revolutionize jewelry, fashion and art with a light-scattering marriage of technology and meaning," said Adams.

For instance, the Nanojems Kickstarter project is also offering Instagram and Facebook mashups that combine up to 30 images and up to twenty thousand words of text into custom light-projectable collectibles. Nanojems also manufactures a dog tag that carries the 6,163-word text of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence on a 0.25" square crystal. The title can be read with the naked eye and the preamble can be read with a jeweler's loupe. The rest of the text, which makes up the stripes of the American flag, can be read with higher power magnification.

A heart locket contains the text of William Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, with their 17,700 words engraved on a 0.25" square crystal inside the locket. Coming soon is a dog tag with two 0.25" square crystals, which will hold the 90,000+ words from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

While the announcement is cause for celebration by lovers of the never-ending number π, it also is the unveiling of a new concept and artistic medium for displaying images, creating images within images and adorning rings, pendants and charms. The 'canvas' consists of either uniform crystals or solid, thin slices of pure sapphire, which can be intricately patterned with gold and platinum and other precious metals and films. It also can be covered with translucent layer of diamond.