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 uncritical
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 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
Presa ice lebrants of a perpetually advancing and improving insight into and control over nature.(.R. Hall has called Whiggism"the writing of history as the story of an ascent to a splendid and virtuous climax ). There is some justice in this criticism although not as much as its proponents are apt to claim. Another dispute, which has erupted recently into the so-called'science wars', is between externalists who perceive science as an approach conditioned largely by social pressures(generally not recognized by the scientific practitioners themselves)and those, like myself, who take a mostly internalist stance and see scientific research as being primarily conditioned by the questions which flow directly from developing knowledge and from technological imperatives. The internalist/externalist dispute will never be finally olved but the reader should at least be aware of its existence. At any rate I have striven to be critical about the history of my own discipline, and to draw general conclusions about scientific practice from what I have discovered about the evolution of materials science One other set of issues runs through the book like a leitmotif: What is a scientific liscipline'? How do disciplines emerge and differentiate? Can a discipline also be interdisciplinary? Is materials science a real discipline? These questions are not just an exercise in lexicography and, looking back, it is perhaps the last of these questions which gave me the impetus to embark on the book a huge range of themes is presented here and I am bound to have got some matters wrong. Any reader who spots an error will be doing me a favor by kindi writing in and telling me about it at: rwcl2@cam. ac uk. Then, if by any chance there is a further edition i can include corrections ROBERT CAHN Cambridge, august 2000 Preface to Second Printing The first printing being disposed of, the time has come to prepare a second printing am taking this opportunity to correct a substantial number of typographic mistakes and other small errors, which had escaped repeated critical read-throughs before the first print- ing. In addition, a small number of more substantial matters, such as inaccurate claims for priority of discovery, need to be put right, and these matters are dealt with in a Corrigenda at the very end of the book m grateful to several reviewers and commentators for uncovering misprints, omis sions and factual errors which I have been able to correct in this printing. My thanks go especially to Masahiro Koiwa in Japan, Jean-Paul Poirier and Jean Philibert in France, ck Westbrook and Arne Hessenbruch in the United States ROBERT CAHN Cambridge, October 2002
viii Preface celebrants of a perpetually advancing and improving insight into and control over nature. (A.R. Hall has called Whiggism "the writing of history as the story of an ascent to a splendid and virtuous climax"). There is some justice in this criticism, although not as much as its proponents are apt to claim. Another dispute, which has erupted recently into the so-called 'science wars', is between externalists who perceive science as an approach conditioned largely by social pressures (generally not recognized by the scientific practitioners themselves) and those, like myself, who take a mostly internalist stance and see scientific research as being primarily conditioned by the questions which flow directly from developing knowledge and from technological imperatives. The internalist/externalist dispute will never be finally resolved but the reader should at least be aware of its existence. At any rate, I have striven to be critical about the history of my own discipline, and to draw general conclusions about scientific practice from what I have discovered about the evolution of materials science. One other set of issues runs through the book like a leitmotif: What is a scientific discipline? How do disciplines emerge and differentiate? Can a discipline also be interdisciplinary? Is materials science a real discipline? These questions are not just an exercise in lexicography and, looking back, it is perhaps the last of these questions which gave me the impetus to embark on the book. A huge range of themes is presented here and I am bound to have got some matters wrong. Any reader who spots an error will be doing me a favor by kindly writing in and telling me about it at: rwcl2@cam.ac.uk. Then, if by any chance there is a further edition, I can include corrections. ROBERT CAHN Cambridge, August 2000 Preface to Second Printing The first printing being disposed of, the time has come to prepare a second printing. I am taking this opportunity to correct a substantial number of typographic mistakes and other small errors, which had escaped repeated critical read-throughs before the first printing. In addition, a small number of more substantial matters, such as inaccurate claims for priority of discovery, need to be put right, and these matters are dealt with in a Corrigenda at the very end of the book. I am grateful to several reviewers and commentators for uncovering misprints, omissions and factual errors which I have been able to correct in this printing. My thanks go especially to Masahiro Koiwa in Japan, Jean-Paul Poirier and Jean Philibert in France, Jack Westbrook and Arne Hessenbruch in the United States. ROBERT CAHN Cambridge, October 2002
Acknowledgments My thanks go first of all to Professor Sir Alan Cottrell, metallurgist, my friend and mentor for more than half a century, who has given me sage advice almost since I emerged from swaddling clothes. He has also very kindly read this book in typescript d offered his comments, helpful as always Next, I want to acknowledge my deep debt to the late Professor Cyril Stanley Smith, metallurgist and historian, who taught me much of what I know about the proper approach to the history of a technological discipline and gave me copies of many of his incomparable books, which are repeatedly cited in mine Professor Sir Brian Pippard gave me the opportunity, in 1993, to prepare a book chapter on the history of the physics of materials for a book, Twentieth Century Physics, that he was editing and which appeared in 1995; this chapter was a us 'dry run for the present work. I have also found his own contributions to that book a valuable source a book published in 1992, Out of the Crystal Maze, edited by Lillian Hoddeson and others, was also a particularly valuable source of information about the physics of materials, shading into materials science Dr Frederick Seitz, doyen of solid-state physicists, has given me much helpful information, about the history of semiconductors in particular, and has provided an valuable exemplar(as has Sir Alan Cottrell) of what a scientist can achieve in Professor Colin Russell, historian of science and emeritus professor at the Open University, gave me helpful counsel on the history of chemistry and showed me how to take a philosophical attitude to the disagreements that beset the relation between practising scientists and historians of science. I am grateful to him The facilities of the Science Periodicals Library of Cambridge University, an unequalled source of information recent and ancient, and its helpful staff, together with those of the Whipple Library of the History and Philosophy of Science and the Library of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, have been an dispensable resource Professors Derek Hull, Colin Humphreys and Alan Windle of my Department in Cambridge have successively provided ideal facilities that have enabled me to devote myself to the preparation of this book. My thanks go to them Hundreds of friends and colleagues all over the world, far too many to nam ave sent me preprints and reprints, ofter en spontaneously. The following provided specific information, comments or illustrations, or given me interv
Acknowledgments My thanks go first of all to Professor Sir Alan Cottrell, metallurgist, my friend and mentor for more than half a century, who has given me sage advice almost since I emerged from swaddling clothes. He has also very kindly read this book in typescript and offered his comments, helpful as always. Next, I want to acknowledge my deep debt to the late Professor Cyril Stanley Smith, metallurgist and historian, who taught me much of what I know about the proper approach to the history of a technological discipline and gave me copies of many of his incomparable books, which are repeatedly cited in mine. Professor Sir Brian Pippard gave me the opportunity, in 1993, to prepare a book chapter on the history of the physics of materials for a book, Twentieth Century Physics, that he was editing and which appeared in 1995; this chapter was a useful 'dry run' for the present work. I have also found his own contributions to that book a valuable source. A book published in 1992, Out of the Crystal Maze, edited by Lillian Hoddeson and others, was also a particularly valuable source of information about the physics of materials, shading into materials science. Dr. Frederick Seitz, doyen of solid-state physicists, has given me much helpful information, about the history of semiconductors in particular, and has provided an invaluable exemplar (as has Sir Alan Cottrell) of what a scientist can achieve in retirement. Professor Colin Russell, historian of science and emeritus professor at the Open University, gave me helpful counsel on the history of chemistry and showed me how to take a philosophical attitude to the disagreements that beset the relation between practising scientists and historians of science. I am grateful to him. The facilities of the Science Periodicals Library of Cambridge University, an unequalled source of information recent and ancient, and its helpful staff, together with those of the Whipple Library of the History and Philosophy of Science and the Library of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, have been an indispensable resource. Professors Derek Hull, Colin Humphreys and Alan Windle of my Department in Cambridge have successively provided ideal facilities that have enabled me to devote myself to the preparation of this book. My thanks go to them. Hundreds of friends and colleagues all over the world, far too many to name, have sent me preprints and reprints, often spontaneously. The following have provided specific information, comments or illustrations, or given me interviews: ix
Acknowledgments Kelly Anderson, V.S. Arunachalam, Bell Laboratory Archives, Yann le bouar(who kindly provided Fig. 12.3(n used on the cover), Stephen Bragg, Ernest Braun, Paul D. Bristowe, Joseph E. Burke, the late Hendrik B.G. Casimir, Leo Clarebrough Clive Cohen, Peter Day, Anne Smith Denman, Cyril Domb, Peter Duncumb, Peter Edwards, Morris Fine, Joan Fitch, Jacques Friedel, Robert L. Fullman, Stefano Gialanella, Jon Gjonnes, Herbert Gleiter, Gerhard Goldbeck-Wood, Charles D Graham, Martin L Green, A Lindsay Greer, Karl A Gschneidner Jr, the late Peter Haasen, Richard H.J. Hannink, Jack Harris, Sir David Harrison, Peter w. Hawkes Mats hillert. Sir Peter Hirsch. Michael Hoare. Gerald Holton, the late John P. Howe, Archibald Howie, Paley Johnson, Stephen Keith, the late Andrew Keller, Peter Keller, the late David Kingery, Reiner Kirchheim, Ernest Kirkendall, Ole Kleppa, Masahiro Koiwa, Gero Kostorz, Eduard V. Kozlov, Edward Kramer, Kehsin Kuo. Vladislav G. Kurdyumov, Elisabeth Leedham-Green, Lionel M Levinson, Eric Lifshin, James Livingston, John W. Martin, Thaddeus Massalsk David Melford, the late Sir Harry Melville, Peter Morris, Jennifer Moss, William W. Mullins, John Mundy, Frank Nabarro, Hideo Nakajima, the late Louis Neel, Arth S. Nowick, Kazuhiro Otsuka, Ronald Ottewill, David Pettifor, Jean-Paul Poirier, G D. Price, Eugen Rabkin, Srinivasa Ranganathan, C N.R. Rao, Percy Reboul, M. Wyn Roberts, John H. Rodgers, Rustum Roy, Derek W. Saunders, Peter Paul Schepp, Hermann Schmalzried, Changxu Shi, K. Shimizu, Frans Spaepen, Hein Stuwe, Robb Thomson, Victor Trefilov, C. Tuijn, David Turnbull, Ruslan Valiev Ajit Ram Verma, Jeffrey Wadsworth, Sir Frederick(Ned) Warner, James A Warren, Robert C. Weast, Jack H. Westbrook, Guy White, Robert J. Young, Xiao- Dong Xiang. I apologise for any inadvertent omissions from this list Erik Oosterwijk and Lorna Anderton of Elsevier have efficiently seen to the minutiae book production and I thank them for all they have done My son Andrew has steadfastly encouraged me in the writing of this book, and thank him for this filial support. My dear wife, Pat, has commented on various passages Moreover, she has made this whole enterprise feasible, not only by her confidence in her eccentric husband s successive pursuits but by always providing an affectionate domestic environment; I cannot possibly ever thank her enoug ROBERT CAHN
x Acknowledgments Kelly Anderson, V.S. Arunachalam, Bell Laboratory Archives, Yann le Bouar (who kindly provided Fig. 12.3(f) used on the cover), Stephen Bragg, Ernest Braun, Paul D. Bristowe, Joseph E. Burke, the late Hendrik B.G. Casimir, Leo Clarebrough, Clive Cohen, Peter Day, Anne Smith Denman, Cyril Domb, Peter Duncumb, Peter Edwards, Morris Fine, Joan Fitch, Jacques Friedel, Robert L. Fullman, Stefano Gialanella, Jon Gjonnes, Herbert Gleiter, Gerhard Goldbeck-Wood, Charles D. Graham, Martin L. Green, A. Lindsay Greer, Karl A. Gschneidner Jr, the late Peter Haasen, Richard H.J. Hannink, Jack Harris, Sir David Harrison, Peter W. Hawkes, Mats Hillert, Sir Peter Hirsch, Michael Hoare, Gerald Holton, the late John P. Howe, Archibald Howie, Paley Johnson, Stephen Keith, the late Andrew Keller, Peter Keller, the late David Kingery, Reiner Kirchheim, Ernest Kirkendall, Ole Kleppa, Masahiro Koiwa, Gero Kostorz, Eduard V. Kozlov, Edward Kramer, Kehsin Kuo, Vladislav G. Kurdyumov, Elisabeth Leedham-Green, Lionel M. Levinson, Eric Lifshin, James Livingston, John W. Martin, Thaddeus Massalski, David Melford, the late Sir Harry Melville, Peter Morris, Jennifer Moss, William W. Mullins, John Mundy, Frank Nabarro, Hideo Nakajima, the late Louis N6el, Arthur S. Nowick, Kazuhiro Otsuka, Ronald Ottewill, David Pettifor, Jean-Paul Poirier, G.D. Price, Eugen Rabkin, Srinivasa Ranganathan, C.N.R. Rao, Percy Reboul, M.Wyn Roberts, John H. Rodgers, Rustum Roy, Derek W. Saunders, Peter Paul Schepp, Hermann Schmalzried, Changxu Shi, K. Shimizu, Frans Spaepen, Hein Sttiwe, Robb Thomson, Victor Trefilov, C. Tuijn, David Turnbull, Ruslan Valiev, Ajit Ram Verma, Jeffrey Wadsworth, Sir Frederick (Ned) Warner, James A. Warren, Robert C. Weast, Jack H. Westbrook, Guy White, Robert J. Young, XiaoDong Xiang. I apologise for any inadvertent omissions from this list. Erik Oosterwijk and Lorna Canderton of Elsevier have efficiently seen to the minutiae of book production and I thank them for all they have done. My son Andrew has steadfastly encouraged me in the writing of this book, and I thank him for this filial support. My dear wife, Pat, has commented on various passages. Moreover, she has made this whole enterprise feasible, not only by her confidence in her eccentric husband's successive pursuits but by always providing an affectionate domestic environment; I cannot possibly ever thank her enough. ROBERT CAHN
Contents Dedication Page Preface CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. 1. Genesis of a Concept 1.. Materials Science and Engineering in Universities 3 In 1. 1. 3 The Materials Research Laboratories 1. 1. 4 Precursors, Definitions and Terminology CHAPTER 2 THE EMERGENCE OF DISCIPLINES 2.1. Drawing Parallels 21 2.1.1 The Emergence of Physical Chemist 2.1.2 The Origins of Chemical Engineering 2.1.3 Polymer Science 35 2. 1. 4 Colloids 2.1.5 Solid-state Physics and Chemistry 2. 1.6 Continuum Mechanics and Atomistic Mechanics of Solid 2.2. The Natural History of disciplines CHAPTER 3 PRECURSORS OF MATERIALS SCIENCE 3. 1. The Legs of the Tripod 3.1.1 Atoms and Cryst 1.1.1 X-ray Diffraction
Contents Dedication Page Preface Acknowledgments vii ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. Genesis of a Concept 1.1.1 Materials Science and Engineering in Universities 1.1.2 MSE in Industry 1.1.3 The Materials Research Laboratories 1.1.4 Precursors, Definitions and Terminology 3 3 8 ll 13 CHAPTER 2 THE EMERGENCE OF DISCIPLINES 2.1. 2.2. Drawing Parallels 2.1.1 The Emergence of Physical Chemistry 2.1.2 The Origins of Chemical Engineering 2.1.3 Polymer Science 2.1.4 Colloids 2.1.5 Solid-state Physics and Chemistry 2.1.6 Continuum Mechanics and Atomistic Mechanics of Solids The Natural History of Disciplines 21 21 23 32 35 41 45 47 50 CHAPTER 3 PRECURSORS OF MATERIALS SCIENCE 3.1. The Legs of the Tripod 3.1.1 Atoms and Crystals 3.1.1.1 X-ray Diffraction xi 57 57 57 66