Materials: handmaid and master of all engineering

Abstract

In his Presidential Address to the 1996 AGM of The Institute of Materials the author argues that materials science should be recognised as the foundation on which the other engineering disciplines stand. Without advances in materials, many of the technological breakthroughs in industry sectors as diverse as electronics and aerospace could not have happened. Advances in materials science itself, however, are only possible if we have access to accurate information about properties, performance, and processing of existing materials.