Meet the local ‘real world Tony Stark’

Dr. Bill Goodman fancies himself a “real-world Tony Stark,” better known as Iron Man in Marvel comic lore, due to his unique work with robotics and nanotechnologies.

Innovative companies use nanotechnology to make stronger, lighter and more durable materials that better conduct electricity, along with myriad other traits. Nanoscale – less than one billionth of a meter – additives enable “smart fabrics” with sensors, ballistic energy deflection in body armor and electromagnetic shielding in next-generation space vehicles.

Goodman, founder of Goodman Technologies, is pioneering what was once science fiction from his office in Largo. He explained how his company creates nanocomposites “for the most extreme environments on or off planet Earth.”

“An extreme environment includes high temperatures, like with hypersonics, where the United States is third in a three-horse race,” Goodman said. “Hypersonic means a minimum of five times the speed of sound. Now you’re going to hit temperatures that are five times what your kitchen broiler puts out.”

The nanoscopic world is nearly incomprehensibly tiny. For example, science.org noted that every person on Earth would fit inside a Matchbox car if humans were the size of a nanometer.

Many everyday products, like stainproof clothing and furniture, use nanotechnology. Goodman creates laminates that can withstand the extreme cold of space. The James Webb Telescope’s operating temperature is 25 degrees Kelvin – or 25 degrees above absolute zero – “the point at which atoms don’t even vibrate anymore.”

“I was the first to 3D-print body armor,” Goodman casually added. “To do this, not only do I have to create the material, in some cases, I had to create the process and equipment to use these new materials to make the product that would meet the user’s requirements.”

Goodman Technologies has created space optics for NASA.

Those users read like Tony Stark’s rolodex. Customers include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, every military service branch, NASA, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Airborne & Missiles Systems.

Goodman earned his PhD in materials science and engineering at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). The college recently included him on its 2024 Bruin Business 100 list.

Goodman has over 90 published scientific articles, and his tech has flown on at least six space missions. He launched his company in 2016.

“It was 30 days after learning my 13-year-old son needed heart surgery and a week after being laid off from my job,” Goodman said. “And that turned out to be the best time to start a business because, like many of my customers, I knew I couldn’t fail.”

The company previously operated from New Mexico, and Goodman was named the state’s Small Business Person of the Year. He and his wife visited the area during the pandemic and eventually bought a house on Indian Rocks Beach. She convinced him to move in 2023.

Goodman Technologies was the first to create a 3D carbon nanotube “nanoforest.”

While the New Mexico plant remains operational, he called Florida his new home and headquarters. Goodman Technologies recently finished first among 11 competitors in a “Hypersonics Cost-reduction Challenge” pitch competition in Tampa.

“I’d like to think I slayed the competition because they couldn’t bring my personality to the table,” said Goodman, half joking. “But we also had the great technology.”

He pitched a process that uses artificial intelligence-enabled robotics to create monocoque structures that use a large vehicle’s composite shell to carry most of its weight rather than bonding. “And the robots are really cool because they work nights, weekends and holidays,” Goodman said.

His company also created the world’s first 3D carbon nanotube – tiny cylinders of atoms – “nanoforest.” Those are significantly stronger than steel and Kevlar, the material typically used in body armor.

Goodman said his Aligned Nanoforest Technology (ANT) improves hypersonic missiles and space capsules. “To get us back into that horse race with the Russians and Chinese, we need better composites,” he said.

Goodman is also particularly proud of his Green Power Trailer. That is a mobile, scalable solar-energy capture, storage and delivery system.

Goodman Technologies’ Green Power Trailer.

His company built it to military and weatherproofing standards, and, according to the website, the machine can save users over $1,000 daily on diesel fuel generator costs. Goodman, who keeps his “head in the clouds,” plans to continue innovating from his new headquarters.

The Defense Industrial Base Consortium recently accepted Goodman’s proposal to print nanoelectronics. “When you talk about manufacturing in Pinellas, I don’t know how many millions of square feet are available, but … you don’t have to drive far out of before you’re almost in the country,” he added.

“I can’t say I’m like Iron Man because Marvel would sue me, but I can say I’m like the real-world Tony Stark,” Goodman said. “I create technologies to save the planet, I travel so much that my family doesn’t know me and I have a slight dark side to my personality.

“If that’s not Tony, I don’t know what is.”