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The material of choice of a given era is often a defining point. Phases such as [[Stone Age]], [[Bronze Age]], [[Iron Age]], and [[Industrial Revolution|Steel Age]] are historic, if arbitrary examples. Originally deriving from the manufacture of [[ceramic]]s and its putative derivative metallurgy, materials science is one of the oldest forms of engineering and applied science.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Defonseka |first=Chris |title=Polymer Fillers and Stiffening Agents: Applications and Non-traditional Alternatives |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-11-066999-2 |location=Berlin |pages=31 |language=en}}</ref> Modern materials science evolved directly from [[metallurgy]], which itself evolved from the use of fire. A major breakthrough in the understanding of materials occurred in the late 19th century, when the American scientist [[Josiah Willard Gibbs]] demonstrated that the [[thermodynamic]] properties related to [[atom]]ic structure in various [[phase (matter)|phases]] are related to the physical properties of a material.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Psillos |first1=Dimitris |title=Iterative Design of Teaching-Learning Sequences: Introducing the Science of Materials in European Schools |last2=Kariotoglou |first2=Petros |publisher=Springer |year=2015 |isbn=978-94-007-7807-8 |location=Dordrecht |pages=79 |language=en}}</ref> Important elements of modern materials science were products of the [[Space Race]]; the understanding and [[engineering]] of the metallic [[alloy]]s, and [[silica]] and [[carbon]] materials, used in building space vehicles enabling the exploration of space. Materials science has driven, and been driven by, the development of revolutionary technologies such as [[rubber]]s, [[plastic]]s, [[semiconductor]]s, and [[biomaterial]]s.
Before the 1960s (and in some cases decades after), many eventual ''materials science'' departments were ''metallurgy'' or ''ceramics engineering'' departments, reflecting the 19th and early 20th-century emphasis on metals and ceramics. The growth of materials science in the United States was catalyzed in part by the [[DARPA|Advanced Research Projects Agency]], which funded a series of university-hosted laboratories in the early 1960s, "to expand the national program of basic research and training in the materials sciences."<ref name=martin-pip>{{cite journal|last=Martin|first=Joseph D. |title=What's in a Name Change? Solid State Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, and Materials Science|journal=Physics in Perspective|date=2015|volume=17|issue=1|doi=10.1007/s00016-014-0151-7|pages=3–32|bibcode= 2015PhP....17....3M|s2cid=117809375 |url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/29168/1/29168.pdf }}</ref> In comparison with mechanical engineering, the [[Nascent state|nascent]] material science field focused on addressing materials from the macro-level and on the approach that materials are designed on the basis of knowledge of behavior at the microscopic level.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Channell |first=David F. |title=A History of Technoscience: Erasing the Boundaries between Science and Technology |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-351-97740-1 |location=Oxon |pages=225 |language=en}}</ref> Due to the expanded knowledge of the link between atomic and molecular processes as well as the overall properties of materials, the design of materials came to be based on specific desired properties.<ref name=":0" /> The materials science field has since broadened to include every class of materials, including ceramics, [[polymer]]s, semiconductors, [[magnetism|magnetic]] materials, biomaterials, and [[nanomaterial]]s, generally classified into three distinct groups: ceramics, metals, and polymers. The prominent change in materials science during the recent decades is active usage of computer simulations to find new materials, predict properties and understand phenomena.
==Fundamentals==
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