This book presents an unique perspective of twentieth century research and development in materials science. It summarizes fifteen years of sol-gel silica processing research leading to the commercial development of gel-silica optics bioactive gel-glasses for medical applications. It demonstrates the combined use of quantum mechanical molecular modelling and spectroscopy to solve environmental stability problems. A final chapter addresses the topic of Technology Transfer - how to transfer technology from the laboratory to a profitable commercial enterprise using examples from various chapters in the book.