The self-sterilizing surface took advantage of two scientific phenomena—“total internal reflection”
and “evanescent field effect”—to expose microbial intruders to ultraviolet light and neutralize them.
To test the concept, I.V. scientists wrote white papers and computer models, cultivated bacteria, and
built prototypes. There was tremendous excitement about the project. Nathan Myhrvold, one of the
company’s founders, began to talk it up publicly.