Preface 40 Years of Journal of Materials Science

• Published in: Journal of materials science Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 589 - 591
• Main Authors: Norton, M. Grant, Bell, Ronald L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Nature B.V 01.02.2006
• Subjects: Materials science
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-006-6469-z

Robert Cahn traces the beginnings of the concept of materials science, now often referred to as 'MSE', to various developments that occurred in the United States in the 1950's. Among these a most important one was the creation of Interdisciplinary Research Laboratories to conduct research and development in MSE. These labs were designed to exploit the experience that groundbreaking innovations often depended on a close cooperation between physicists, chemists, metallurgists and engineers. Perhaps the best example at the time was the work at Bell Laboratories, which led to the invention of germanium and silicon transistors. In laboratories where interdisciplinary cooperation flourished several areas of knowledge, e.g., phase equilibria, crystallography, the growth of single crystals, diffusion, microscopy, chemical analysis, were shown to be important in the study of a whole range of materials. Cahn coined a new word 'parepistemes' to emphasize the importance of these branches of knowledge, which together form the foundation of the discipline of materials science.