BPA NEWS Board on Physics and Astronomy • National Research Council • Washington, DC • 202-334-3520 •
[email protected] • December, 1997 challenges they face. tions was available only to concertgoers. The Physics of Within our lifetimes, improvements in Just a few generations ago, a trip Materials our understanding of materials have across the United States was a great transformed the computer from an exotic adventure. Today, jets whisk us safely by Venkatesh Narayanamurti, tool, used only by scientists, to an essen- across the continent or the oceans in only Chair, Committee on Condensed- tial component of almost every aspect of a few hours. Matter and Materials Physics and our lives. Computers enable us to keep Making these extraordinary accom- Dean of Engineering, UC Santa track of extraordinarily complex data, plishments possible are a wide variety of Barbara from managing financial transactions to polymeric, ceramic, and metallic materi- forecasting weather. They control auto- als, as well as the transistor, the magnetic mobile production lines and guide air- disk, the laser, the light-emitting diode, HE Committee on Condensed- craft around the world. and a host of other solid-state devices. TMatter and Materials Physics, which During the same period, telecommu- The development of these materials and was commissioned by the BPA to prepare nication has evolved from rudimentary devices depended on our ability to predict a volume of the new survey, Physics in a telephone conversations to instantaneous and control the physical properties of New Era, has just completed a short simultaneous worldwide transmission of matter. That ability is the realm of con- preliminary report entitled The Physics of voice, video images, and data.