Abstract
The entire history of materials is examined with emphasis upon the structural differences at stages of discovery, development and mature adjustment in analogy with the S-curve of a phase change. The earliest discovery of almost all useful materials or techniques occurred in making decorative objects. Alloying, shaping and welding techniques began in jewelry and sculpture; crystallization, spinodal transformation, and interface energy equilibrium were sensitively used in ceramic glazes; oriental lacquer and celluloid trinkets are precursors of the plastic industry. Far from being an applied science, practice in materials was far in advance of physical and chemical theory until less than a century ago, and even today intuitive understanding cannot be disregarded. The alchemists built their mystic concepts upon the coloring techniques of ancient artisans. Chemistry came from dying, pot making and particularly the quantitative separatory reactions of the assayer. But, once developed, science became highly effective in controlling and improving industrial practice. The discovery of electricity gave a new type of property to be studied, and the richness of today’s approach to materials came from the subsequent joining of the physicist’s approach with the other threads that had been maturing through the ages. Technological change alters the patterns of human interaction and it underlies most social upheavals. Technology is a rich part of the human experience and it deserves far more attention than it has hitherto received by historians.
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References
For earlier lectures in this series, see: Harvey Brooks, “Materials in a Steady State World,”Met. Trans., 1972, vol. 3, p. 759; Alan Cottrell, “Materials and Energy,”Met.Trans., 1973, vol. 4, p. 405; James Boyd, “The Resource Tri- chotomy,”Met. Trans., 1974, vol. 5, p. 5.
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Cyril Stanley Smith: “Metallurgical Footnotes to the History of Art,”Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., 1972, vol. 116, pp. 97–125
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Smith, C.S. Metallurgy as a human experience. Metall Trans A 6, 603–623 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02672281
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02672281