Preface My objective in writing this book, which has been many years in preparation, has been twofold. The discipline of materials science and engineering emerged from small beginnings during my professional life and I became closely involved with its development; accordingly, I wanted to place on record the historical stages of that development, as well as premonitory things that happened long ago, My second objective, inseparable from the first, was to draw an impressionistic map of the present state of the subject, for readers coming new to it as well as for those well ensconced in research on materials. My subject-matter is the science, not the craft that preceded it, which has been well treated in a number of major texts. My book interest in the origins of their subject; but if some professional historians of science also find the contents to be of interest, I shall be particularly pleased The first chapter examines the emergence of the materials science concept, in both academe and industry, while 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. Thereafter, I pursue different aspects of the subject in varying depth The book is in no sense a textbook of materials science; it should rather be regarded as a pointillist portrait of he discipline, to be viewed from a slight distance. The space devoted to a particular topic is not to be regarded as a measure of the importance I attach to it, neither is the omission of a theme meant to express any kind of value judgment. I sought merely achieve a reasonable balance between many kinds of themes within an acceptable overall length, and to focus on a few of the multitude of men and women who together have constructed materials science and engineering The numerous literature references are directed to two distinct ends: many refer to the earliest key papers and books, while others are to sources, often books, that paint a picture of the present state of a topic. In the early parts of the book, most references are to the distant past, but later on, as I treat the more modern parts of my subject, I refer to more recent sources There has been some dispute among professional historians of science as to who should be entitled to write a history such as this. Those trained as historians are understandably apt to resent the presumption of working scientists, in the evening of their days, in trying to take the bread from the historians'mouths. We, the superannuated scientists, are decried by some historians as ', mere uncriticalPreface My objective in writing this book, which has been many years in preparation, has been twofold. The discipline of materials science and engineering emerged from small beginnings during my professional life, and I became closely involved with its development; accordingly, I wanted to place on record the historical stages of that development, as well as premonitory things that happened long ago. My second objective, inseparable from the first, was to draw an impressionistic map of the present state of the subject, for readers coming new to it as well as for those well ensconced in research on materials. My subject-matter is the science, not the craft that preceded it, which has been well treated in a number of major texts. My book is meant primarily for working scientists and engineers, and also for students with an interest in the origins of their subject; but if some professional historians of science also find the contents to be of interest, I shall be particularly pleased. The first chapter examines the emergence of the materials science concept, in both academe and industry, while 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. Thereafter, I pursue different aspects of the subject in varying depth. The book is in no sense a textbook of materials science; it should rather be regarded as a pointilliste portrait of the discipline, to be viewed from a slight distance. The space devoted to a particular topic is not to be regarded as a measure of the importance I attach to it, neither is the omission of a theme meant to express any kind of value judgment. I sought merely to achieve a reasonable balance between many kinds of themes within an acceptable overall length, and to focus on a few of the multitude of men and women who together have constructed materials science and engineering. The numerous literature references are directed to two distinct ends: many refer to the earliest key papers and books, while others are to sources, often books, that paint a picture of the present state of a topic. In the early parts of the book, most references are to the distant past, but later on, as I treat the more modern parts of my subject, I refer to more recent sources. There has been some dispute among professional historians of science as to who should be entitled to write a history such as this. Those trained as historians are understandably apt to resent the presumption of working scientists, in the evening of their days, in trying to take the bread from the historians' mouths. We, the superannuated scientists, are decried by some historians as 'whigs', mere uncritical vii