Discipline
Materials Science
Also Known As Materials Science and Engineering
Physical Sciences
Materials science is the study of the structure and properties of matter, especially metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites, and of how processing changes what a material can do. It coalesced as a field distinct from the older disciplines of metallurgy, ceramics engineering and solid-state physics beginning in the 1940s and 1950s; Northwestern University's 1960 founding of a dedicated Department of Materials Science is the event this atlas dates the field's arrival by, though other universities founded comparable programs across the same decade. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Founded YearMaterials science emerged as a named discipline in the early 1960s, when university programs such as Northwestern University's Department of Materials Science, founded in 1960, brought together the previously separate fields of metallurgy, ceramics and solid-state physics under one banner. Central QuestionHow does a material's internal structure, down to the arrangement of its atoms and defects, determine the mechanical, electrical, optical and thermal properties an engineer can actually use? 1 ScopeMaterials science studies the properties of matter and applies that understanding to design and discover new materials, spanning metals, ceramics, polymers, composites and semiconductors. 1 SignificanceMaterials science emerged as a distinct academic discipline only in the 1950s and 1960s, when university departments began merging the previously separate study of metallurgy, ceramics and polymers under one structure-property-processing-performance framework, a synthesis credited to no single founder. 1 Connections
Associated With
Smith founded the Institute for the Study of Metals, the first interdisciplinary academic organization devoted to the study of metals in the United States.
Source Cyril Stanley Smith (Wikipedia)
Has Scientist
Source Henry Clifton Sorby (Wikipedia)
Source J. Willard Gibbs (Britannica)
Source Max von Laue (Britannica)
Source William Chandler Roberts-Austen (Wikipedia)
Source William Henry Bragg (Britannica)
Source William Lawrence Bragg (Britannica)
Has Theory
Source Crystal Structure (Wikipedia)
Source J. Willard Gibbs (Britannica)
Source Grain Boundary (Wikipedia)
Source Phase Diagram (Britannica)
Source Wikipedia: Materials science
Studies
Source Copper (Wikipedia)
Source Silicon (Wikipedia)
Source Titanium (Wikipedia)
Uses
The atomic force microscope images and measures surface topography and mechanical properties at atomic-scale resolution, a core materials-science characterization tool.
Source Transmission Electron Microscopy (Wikipedia)
Source Scanning Tunneling Microscope (Wikipedia)
Source X-ray Diffraction Spectrometer (Britannica)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Materials science
Wikipedialead
In engineering practice, materials science and engineering are often described through the processing-structure-properties-performance paradigm.
- Part Of: Physics
- Part Of: Chemistry
View the Source X-ray Diffraction Spectrometer (Britannica)
Transmission Electron Microscopy (Wikipedia)
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (Wikipedia)
Silicon (Wikipedia)
Titanium (Wikipedia)
Copper (Wikipedia)
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