Tributes to Robert Cahn and David Turnbull

In the latest issue of Science, Prof. Roger Doherty pays his tributes to two pioneers who transformed the field of (largely empirical) metallurgy into materials science:

Sixty years ago, the precursor discipline to materials science–metallurgy–was largely empirical, necessarily so given its engineering importance and complexity. However, by the late 1940s, the field was about to be transformed. Robert W. Cahn and David Turnbull, who both died in April of this year, played vital roles in the development of this new science.

He also describes the major contributions of both Cahn and Turnbull in detail. Take a look!