- Email: [email protected]
The Coming of Materials Science
Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 125 (2001) 167–168
Book review The Coming of Materials Science R.W. Cahn, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 2001, 568 pp., 130 NL guilders, hardback, ISBN 0-08-042679-4 Thumbing through recent issues of “Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors”, I find quite a number of articles with keywords, such as diffusion, phase transition, creep, iron alloys, etc., all of which could be found in a materials science journal. Indeed, materials science has now entered the realm of geophysics under the guise of mineral physics or petrophysics. Interestingly enough, the mineralogist Henry Sorby, who was the first to observe petrographic thin sections in transmitted polarized light and earned the title of “father of petrography”, also invented the metallographic microscope and is widely recognized as one of the founders of materials science. It thus seems clear that mineral physicists and solid Earth geophysicists could take an interest in the story of how materials science evolved from metallurgy and mineralogy into an independent discipline, which now contributes to the understanding of the Earth and planetary interiors. “The coming of materials science” is the title and subject matter of a thick book by Robert Cahn, a distinguished metallurgist who, for many years, has contributed to the progress of this discipline and cultivated an interest in its history. The architecture of this rich book is not immediately apparent, as it intimately mixes history and recent advances in materials science, without too much regard for strict chronological progression. This is evidently due to the fact that the story of materials science develops in a very nonlinear fashion. Mineral physicists will no doubt find much food for thought in chapters, such as “Materials in extreme states” or “Computer simulation”, and they might like being told how the riddle of the plastic deformation of
crystals was solved by the introduction of the concept of dislocations in 1934, and how these defects were finally observed in transmission electron microscopy, after 20 years or so of a purely theoretical existence. Some readers may, admittedly, want to skip some chapters too remote from their preoccupations, but they might however enjoy an excursion into the most advanced fields of present day materials science with the chapters “Functional materials” or “Materials chemistry and biomimetics”. Cahn has personally known many of the most important characters of the saga of materials science, and reminiscences and photographs enliven the book. Many of the great old men of materials science mentioned in the book are also revered by Earth scientists, such as Bridgman, the father of high-pressure research or Goldschmidt, the patron saint of geochemists, who gave his name to their most famous conference. Cahn devotes four pages to Victor Goldschmidt who, in addition to having written the article on “Geochemical distribution laws of the elements”, created crystal chemistry and introduced the concepts of ionic radius and coordination. Anecdotes abound in the book and one, in particular, is revealing of Goldschmidt’s dry wit. As a resistant in Norway, during the war, he always carried a cyanide capsule; a colleague and fellow resistant asked him how he could get one. Goldschmidt replied, “This poison is for professors of chemistry only. You, as a professor of mechanics will have to use the rope.”. The importance of careful analysis of trace elements is illustrated by the work of Clair Patterson “who made his life’s work to assess the origin and concentration of lead in the atmosphere and human bodies”, and thanks to whom we now have lead-free gasoline. Quite right, but it is a pity that the major scientific contribution to which Clair Patterson was led by the analysis of lead
0031-9201/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 3 1 - 9 2 0 1 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 2 1 5 - 1
168
Book review
isotopes was omitted: the determination of the age of the Earth, no doubt his enduring claim to fame. But this is nitpicking. This remarkable book should be read by all who use materials science, whether to design better alloys and ceramics or to understand the workings of the Earth and planets.
Jean-Paul Poirier Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05 France Tel.: +33-1-44-27-38-10; fax: +33-1-44-27-24-87 E-mail address: [email protected] (J.-P. Poirier)
Book review The Coming of Materials Science R.W. Cahn, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 2001, 568 pp., 130 NL guilders, hardback, ISBN 0-08-042679-4 Thumbing through recent issues of “Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors”, I find quite a number of articles with keywords, such as diffusion, phase transition, creep, iron alloys, etc., all of which could be found in a materials science journal. Indeed, materials science has now entered the realm of geophysics under the guise of mineral physics or petrophysics. Interestingly enough, the mineralogist Henry Sorby, who was the first to observe petrographic thin sections in transmitted polarized light and earned the title of “father of petrography”, also invented the metallographic microscope and is widely recognized as one of the founders of materials science. It thus seems clear that mineral physicists and solid Earth geophysicists could take an interest in the story of how materials science evolved from metallurgy and mineralogy into an independent discipline, which now contributes to the understanding of the Earth and planetary interiors. “The coming of materials science” is the title and subject matter of a thick book by Robert Cahn, a distinguished metallurgist who, for many years, has contributed to the progress of this discipline and cultivated an interest in its history. The architecture of this rich book is not immediately apparent, as it intimately mixes history and recent advances in materials science, without too much regard for strict chronological progression. This is evidently due to the fact that the story of materials science develops in a very nonlinear fashion. Mineral physicists will no doubt find much food for thought in chapters, such as “Materials in extreme states” or “Computer simulation”, and they might like being told how the riddle of the plastic deformation of
crystals was solved by the introduction of the concept of dislocations in 1934, and how these defects were finally observed in transmission electron microscopy, after 20 years or so of a purely theoretical existence. Some readers may, admittedly, want to skip some chapters too remote from their preoccupations, but they might however enjoy an excursion into the most advanced fields of present day materials science with the chapters “Functional materials” or “Materials chemistry and biomimetics”. Cahn has personally known many of the most important characters of the saga of materials science, and reminiscences and photographs enliven the book. Many of the great old men of materials science mentioned in the book are also revered by Earth scientists, such as Bridgman, the father of high-pressure research or Goldschmidt, the patron saint of geochemists, who gave his name to their most famous conference. Cahn devotes four pages to Victor Goldschmidt who, in addition to having written the article on “Geochemical distribution laws of the elements”, created crystal chemistry and introduced the concepts of ionic radius and coordination. Anecdotes abound in the book and one, in particular, is revealing of Goldschmidt’s dry wit. As a resistant in Norway, during the war, he always carried a cyanide capsule; a colleague and fellow resistant asked him how he could get one. Goldschmidt replied, “This poison is for professors of chemistry only. You, as a professor of mechanics will have to use the rope.”. The importance of careful analysis of trace elements is illustrated by the work of Clair Patterson “who made his life’s work to assess the origin and concentration of lead in the atmosphere and human bodies”, and thanks to whom we now have lead-free gasoline. Quite right, but it is a pity that the major scientific contribution to which Clair Patterson was led by the analysis of lead
0031-9201/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 3 1 - 9 2 0 1 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 2 1 5 - 1
168
Book review
isotopes was omitted: the determination of the age of the Earth, no doubt his enduring claim to fame. But this is nitpicking. This remarkable book should be read by all who use materials science, whether to design better alloys and ceramics or to understand the workings of the Earth and planets.
Jean-Paul Poirier Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05 France Tel.: +33-1-44-27-38-10; fax: +33-1-44-27-24-87 E-mail address: [email protected] (J.-P. Poirier)