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The 3D printer was invented in 1983 by Chuck Hull, an American engineer.

Key details:

Year: 1983 (patented in 1986)

Technology: Stereolithography (SLA) – the first true 3D printing process

How it worked: Hull developed a system that used a UV laser to cure liquid photopolymer resin layer by layer to create solid objects.

Company: He co-founded 3D Systems in 1986 to commercialize the technology.

First machine: Called the SLA-1, it was the world’s first commercial 3D printer.

While other early additive manufacturing techniques existed before 1983 (like David E. H. Jones describing the concept in 1974), Chuck Hull is universally credited with inventing practical 3D printing as we know it today because he created both the working technology and the .STL file format still used worldwide.