World War II had brought fundamental changes to the science and technology of metals, ceramics, and other materials. The development of atomic energy had led to the entirely new science and technology of nuclear materials concerned with such metals as uranium, plutonium, and beryllium, as well as with ceramics. The atomic energy project had called special attention to the importance of materials processing. It also demonstrated how much the collaboration of the fundamental sciences of physics and chemistry with applied disciplines such as metallurgy and ceramics could accomplish. It revealed challenging aspects of materials research and, in fact, acted as a curtain raiser for materials science and engineering.