Advances in Materials Science and Engineering

We thought long and hard over advances in materials science over the last 50 years. We sought the advice of our editorial advisory panel and asked leaders in the field to add their own contributions. We hope the results are interesting and thought-provoking. In making the final selection, we have tried to focus on the advances that have either changed our lives or are in the process of changing them. Should an advance alter all our daily lives, or does fundamentally changing the research arena count? What about discoveries that can be clearly attributed to a certain date and investigator, or those developments that have come about incrementally through the efforts of many? Where does materials science stop and electronics, physics, or chemistry begin?