Bøger af S. Somiya

The Materials Research Society of Japan (MRS-Japan), formerly the Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Society (AMSES), was established on 16 March 1989 in Tokyo, Japan. AMSES was established following the International Conference on Advanced Materials, held from 30 May to 3 June 1988 in Tokyo (MRS Bulletin, October and November 1988). This meeting was similar to the MRS meeting held in Boston, USA, and consisted of 21 symposia, which were published as proceedings in 14 volumes. The number of participants was over 1600. The first President of AMSES, Professor Masao Doyama, gave the following address: As advanced technology develops toward its highest goals, a small improvement in existing materials is not enough to meet the demands. The deadlock of advanced technology often brings the invention of new materials. Human civilization has grown along with materials. The Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age represent the materials most used in those times. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the plastic age, the semiconductor age, the new ceramics age, and the composite materials age have been identified, but no single material dominates.

This volume is one in a series which attempts to bring together comprehensive articles on recent advances in ceramics. The volume is dedicated to Professor Shigeyuki Somiya on the occasion of his retirement from the Tokyo Institute of Technology; and it is a most fitting tribute. Professor Somiya has been one of the earliest and most persistent and versatile champions of research in ceramic materials in Japan. He has served this cause extraordinarily well by mixing two strategies. First, by making bridges to the entire international community of ceramic researchers in the US and Europe. Thereby, he kept a window for all of Japanese ceramic science on world class research in the field. It was largely through his efforts that the series of US-Japan International Cooperation Sessions in Ceram­ ics were started. I was honored to be US chairman of the first such in 1969. At Penn State we are delighted to claim Professor Somiya as an honorary alumnus. The high regard in which he is held is shown by the many of his colleagues from the University who have chosen to come over for this conference. He was also recognized with a Penn State MRL Bridge-Building award in 1988 to reflect his pioneering in establishing the two-way exchange with Japan.