Abstract

The Coming of Materials Science both covers the discipline of materials science, and draws an impressionistic map of the present state of the subject.

The first chapter examines the emergence of the materials science concept, in both academe and industry. The second and third chapters delve back into the prehistory of materials science, examining the growth of such concepts as atoms, crystals and thermodynamics, and also examine the evolution of a number of neighbouring disciplines, to see what helpful parallels might emerge.

The book contains numerous literature references. Many refer to the earliest key papers and books, while others are to sources, often books, offering a view of the present state of a topic. Early references are to the past but as the book continues, it brings the reader up to date with more recent sources.

The author, Professor Robert Cahn FRS, has striven to be critical about the history of the discipline of materials science and to draw general conclusions about scientific practice from what he has discovered about the evolution of materials science. Further issues that the book highlights include: What is a scientific discipline? How do disciplines merge and differentiate? Can a discipline also be interdisciplinary? Is materials science a real discipline? A large range of themes is presented in the book and readers are invited to interact with the author if they reach alternative conclusions. This book is not just for reading and reference, but exists to stimulate thought and provoke discussion as well.
"...not just for reading and reference, but exists to stimulate thought and provoke discussion as well."
ZEITSCHRIFT FUR KRISTALLOGRAPHIE
"Another good read is The Coming of Materials Science by R.W. Cahn..."
ULTRAMICROSCOPY
S. Mossman, Science Museum, London
'...an immensely valuable source of information about a science which has now reached maturity.'
AMBIX
D.A. Weitz, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
'...a lively and interesting read...The Coming of Materials Science provides an engaging account of the field's evolution, and for that, is well worth reading.'
PHYSICS TODAY
A. Uguz, Uludag University
'As A. Cottrell says on the back of this book, this book is really a masterpiece by Cahn, who has been the Pergamon Materials Series editor and an important name in the history of materials science and engineering. Thank you for writing this book!'
JOM
D.Hull FRS FREng
'Robert Cahn's monumental work, The coming of materials science, is the product of a lifetime's involovement in the science of materials...The breadth of the subject treated in this book is exceptional including, as it does, detailed accounts of the scientists and their creations across a very wide field of materials-metals, polymers and ceramics...The emphasis is on describing the development of high-quality original, trail-blazing, research...'
NOTES AND RECORDS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON
W. Pabst

Reading this book is exciting mainly for the personal view it conveys, since Cahn, apart from being doubtlessly one of the main figures and propagators of MSE, and being well known as a distinguished researcher in the field of physical mettallurgy, came to know most of the other 20th protagonists of MSE personally. As such, this book must be considered as an important primary source for 20th century science history. But I would fully agree with the back cover advertisement that this book is not just for reading and reference, but exists to stimulate thought and provoke discussion.
CERAMICS-SILIKATY
Jean-Paul Poirier

This remarkable book should be read by all who use material science, whether to design better alloys and ceramics or to understand the workings of the Earth and planets.
PHYSICS OF THE EARTH AND PLANETARY INTERIORS