Materials Revolution

Three concurrent technological revolutions are going to dominate the last decade of the 20th century information technology, biotechnology, and new materials. Although the first two have been written about extensively in the west, new materials technology has been largely ignored. It is the Japanese who have quietly targeted new materials as the next growth industry.

"The Materials Revolution brings together articles from a wide range of sources to provide the first comprehensive survey of this exciting new technology and its impact on the economy and society.

Tom Forester's timely and highly readable introduction and his organization of the articles give them context and continuity.

In 1987 a major breakthrough in scientific research revealed a number of manmade ceramic materials that exhibited superconductivity at relatively 'ordinary' temperatures; the potential applications seem unlimited. Naturally "The Superconductivity Story" leads off this collection, but the book also covers such important topics and applications as successors to silicon, high performance plastics, fine ceramics, new kinds of fabrics, optical fibers, materials innovation and substitution, seabed materials, the processing of materials in space, and "The Coming Era of Nanotechnology."

Tom Forester is a Lecturer in the, Division of Science and Technology at Griffith University in Australia. He is editor of The "Microelectronics Revolution and "The Information Technology Revolution and author of "High Tech Society.