1865 MIT opens its doors and one of its very first courses of study is the Department of Geology and Mining. Why mining? Because Boston business is a key financier of mining operations in the American West.
1870 MIT President Runkle makes a successful trip to the West Coast via the newly completed transcontinental railway to tour mines and smelters and generate interest in MIT. The following summer Prof. Robert H. Richards leads students on an expedition to the West to collect gold, silver, and other metals.
1889 MIT renames the “Laboratory of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy” in honor of John Cummings, an early supporter of the school. Cummings was president of Shawmut Bank, served on the state senate and house of representatives, and served as MIT treasurer, 1872--89.
1916 MIT moves to Cambridge and Course III alumni Coleman du Pont, Pierre du Pont, and Charles Hayden provide funding for Building 8, designated for use by the Department of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy. Building 8 labs are still used by DMSE, though the disciplines studied have evolved considerably.
1920s Professor John T. Norton begins using x-ray technology to determine the atomic structure responsible for crystallinity of metals.
1927 New graduate-level specialization of physical metallurgy, along with applied optics, industrial radiology, physics of crystallography compounds. Undergraduate options include mining engineering, petroleum production, metallurgy, physical metallurgy.
1931 Three new subjects reflect growth of the aircraft industry and the need for lightweight metals: aluminum and magnesium alloys, welding in manufacturing, corrosion and heat-resistant alloys.
1937 Writing for the Tech Review, MIT President Karl Taylor Compton observes, “The metallurgist now requires not only a thorough training in processes and physics of metallurgy, but also a knowledge of physical chemistry, electrochemistry, and ceramics.”
1940s MIT Metallurgical Project focuses on developing a method for producing solid uranium blocks from powder. The material serves as the core of the first reactor to produce atomic powder (at University of Chicago).
1946 Professor John Chipman, head of the department, oversees facilities and personnel changes as research begins to address ceramics and polymers, using the methods and principles for studying metals.
1948 Professor Herbert H. Uhlig publishes The Corrosion Handbook, which remains a key reference work.
1961 Building 13 opens. The Center for Materials Science and Engineering is funded by a grant from ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency). Many DMSE faculty and staff move into the new facility to pursue interdepartmental and interdisciplinary projects.
1969 3.091, Solid State Chemistry, becomes an option for first-year students to meet the Chemistry GIR. 3.091 is one of the largest classes taught at MIT, attracting over half of each year’s incoming freshmen. In succession, John Wulff, Gus Witt, and Don Sadoway are remembered as iconic instructors by generations of MIT students.
1972 Glassblowing classes allow students to study hands-on art and science simultaneously. After Glass Lab director Page Hazlegrove’s untimely death in 1997, a lectureship and art residency is established in her honor, hosting such acclaimed artists as Kiki Smith, Mags Harries, Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra, and Maya Lin.
1973 The Materials Research Society is founded and holds its first meeting in Boston. The organizing committee included Prof. Harry Gatos (Ph.D. ’50 Course V), Dr. Rodney Hanneman (S.M. ’61, Ph.D. ’64), and others. Today, membership is 15,000 and still meets annually in Boston.
1974 After eight previous name changes, the department receives its current title. Graduate programs include Ceramics, Materials Engineering, Materials Science, Metallurgy, and Polymers.
1974 Professor Morris Cohen chairs the National Academy of Science’s Committee on Survey of Materials Science and Engineering (COSMAT). The groundbreaking report, Materials and Man's Needs, “outlined the intellectual foundation of materials science and charted its direction.” His observations drew upon his earlier research into the structure of iron and steel, which contributed to the development of high-strength steels. His work with steel “helped to establish the principles underlying the development of all synthetic materials, including metals, plastics, ceramics, polymers, composites and even biomaterials, synthetic materials used to make medical implants.“ In 1976, Prof. Cohen received a National Medal of Science.
1977 The Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology is founded. CMRAE, a consortium of eight Boston-area educational and cultural institutions, promotes the sharing of knowledge, graduate level education, and research facilities, thereby stimulating the incorporation of science, and especially materials engineering, in the pursuits of archaeology, anthropology, and art history. Professor Cyril Stanley Smith is a leader in the new field of archaeological materials.
1977 The inaugural Wulff Lecture is held, “Haynes Stellite 21---The History of an American Alloy,” by John Wulff. The goal of the Wulff Lecture, now presented each fall and spring, is to educate, inspire, and encourage MIT undergraduates to take up the study of materials science and engineering.
1980 Initially funded by the NSF, the Materials Processing Center (MPC) opens with Prof. Mert Flemings as its founding director. Founded in response to a recognized national need to improve the materials processing knowledge base and streamline the process of translating materials research results into industrial innovations and applications, MPC strives to support and enhance the pool of talented materials processing students and professionals available to industry.
1984 Professor Sam Allen launches a freshman seminar in blacksmithing. The seminar remains popular today. Student projects have included everything from forging Japanese swords to fireplace tools.
1993 Anne M. Mayes ’86 joins the MIT faculty and is the first woman faculty member hired in DMSE to receive tenure and be promoted to full professor. After early retirement due to medical reasons, she provided the initial funding for a fellowship, also supported by gifts from colleagues, friends, students, the Dean, and the Provost; this is MIT's first fellowship named for an alumna. Professor Mayes, a MacVicar Fellow, was recognized with many teaching and professional awards, in part for her research on polymers in areas such as recycling efficiency and water filtration systems.
1998 The Singapore MIT Alliance begins. Many DMSE professors are actively involved in the Advanced Materials for Micro- and Nano-Systems Programme.
2000s DMSE expands its research focus to include nanotechnology, biomaterials, and energy storage. Faculty cross traditional disciplinary boundaries in developing photonic materials, biomedical devices, and new materials for rechargeable batteries with longer and stronger charges.
2002 The interdisciplinary NanoMechanical Technology Lab allows researchers to probe the mechanical properties of surfaces and devices at the atomic and molecular scale. It is home to MIT's first nanoindenters, machines that probe and measure the properties of surfaces of engineering and biological materials.
2002 Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) founded. The mission: to develop and exploit nanotechnology along with light-weight materials to dramatically improve the survivability of soldiers. The ultimate goal is to help the Army create a 21st century “battlesuit” that combines high-tech capabilities with light weight and comfort. Professor Ned Thomas was the founding director.
2003 The DMSE Undergraduate Teaching Lab opens. This facility allows the department to closely align classwork and labwork, continuing its mission of hands-on exploration of participation in science and engineering.
2007 DMSE Headquarters moves into a new home on the first floor of Building 6, creating a new Chipman Room and administrative offices.
2008 DMSE graduates launch an Alumni Club, the first group dedicated to a single department at MIT. They build relationships between current students and alumni/ae, providing career mentoring and resources.
2008 Professor Gerbrand Ceder initiates the “Materials Genome Project,” a computer-modeling initiative with the goal of discovering new materials for energy technologies.
2010 The Laboratory for Advanced Materials (LAM) opens on the Infinite Corridor. The lab is a shared and reconfigurable facility for researchers to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects.