Department of Materials, University of Oxford
Encyclopedia
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, England was founded in the 1950s as the Department of Metallurgy, by William Hume-Rothery
William Hume-Rothery
William Hume-Rothery OBE was a British metallurgist who studied the constitution of alloys.- Career :Hume-Rothery was born the son of lawyer Joseph Hume-Rothery in Worcester Park, Surrey but spent his youth in Cheltenham and was educated at Cheltenham College. In 1917 he was made totally deaf by a...
, who was a reader in Oxford's Department of Inorganic Chemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the properties and behavior of inorganic compounds. This field covers all chemical compounds except the myriad organic compounds , which are the subjects of organic chemistry...
.
The Isaac Wolfson
Isaac Wolfson
Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS was a businessman and philanthropist. He was managing director of Great Universal Stores 1932-1947 and chairman 1947-1987. He established the Wolfson Foundation to distribute most of his fortune to good causes. Great Universal Stores was a mail order business...
Chair in Metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
was set up in the late 1950s and remains one of the most important professorships in British materials science. Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the chair. The current holder of the chair is David Pettifor
David Pettifor
Professor David Pettifor CBE FRS is the Isaac Wolfson Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Oxford. He is also a Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford....
CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
.
Other posts in the Department include the Professor in the Physical Examination of Materials, the Cookson Professor of Materials Processing, and the Professor of Nanomaterials. The current holders of these chairs are David Cockayne
David Cockayne
Professor David John Hugh Cockayne, FRS, FInstPhys, was a professor in the materials science department of the University of Oxford.. He was an electron microscopist who played an important role in the development of weak-beam transmission electron microscopy , and in the application of high...
, Patrick Grant and Andrew Briggs respectively.
Oxford Materials is a research department, achieving 6* status in a research assessment exercise. Research is done in the fields of electron microscopy, materials modelling, biomaterials, semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
s, superconductors, materials processing, magnetic materials, and strong solids.
The Department offers undergraduate degrees in Materials Science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
and Materials, Economics and Management, having almost one hundred undergraduates, and also several dozen postgraduate students.
The Department of Materials shares buildings with the Department of Engineering Science
Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
The Department of Engineering Science is the focus of study of engineering science at Oxford University, England. It is located on the triangular plot formed by Banbury Road to the west, Parks Road to the east and Keble Road to the south. The main building is the tall 1960s Thom Building that...
on a triangular plot with Banbury Road
Banbury Road
Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the Woodstock Road, which it meets at the junction with St...
to the west and Parks Road
Parks Road
Parks Road is a road in Oxford, England, with several Oxford University colleges along its route. It runs north-south from the Banbury Road and Norham Gardens at the northern end, where it continues into Bradmore Road, to the junction with Broad Street, Holywell Street and Catte Street to the...
to the east.