One Person Can Change The World: Or At Least What The World Is Made Of

In 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, World War II was in full swing, and a young man named Hans Conrad was embarking on a career as a materials science researcher. Sixty-eight years later, he is still showing up to the lab every day, publishing top-notch papers and trying to figure out the physical and mechanical properties of the materials that make up the world we live in. I want to be him when I grow up.

Over the course of the past seven decades, Conrad has worked on aluminum alloys for aircraft, lasers, cold-welding materials in the vacuum of space, semiconductivity, superconductivity and ceramics (among much else).

Now in his late 80s, Conrad has published several papers in the past year on how electric fields could revolutionize the ceramics industry. For example, Conrad found that applying a small electric field results in faster formation of ceramic products during manufacture at lower temperatures, and enhances the strength of the ceramic itself. In short, you can make ceramics in less time, with less energy, for less money – and the quality of the ceramic actually improves.

In another 2010 paper, Conrad showed that the use of electric fields could make it vastly easier to deform ceramic materials. Not bad for a guy who, technically, retired from NC State 18 years ago.

Conrad has  worked with ceramics off and on since the 1960s (e.g., he worked on ceramic heat shields for the space program), but his interest in learning more about this and other materials has not flagged. As Conrad told Raleigh’s News & Observer in 2010, “That’s what research is about: Every time you answer one question, you open up 10 other questions. It could take the rest of my life.”

In addition to the satisfaction he derives from his work, Conrad is also being recognized by the larger community of materials researchers. ASM International, a prominent materials science and research society, announced June 29 that Conrad will be awarded the ASM Gold Medal for 2012. The medal has been given to a single researcher every year since 1943 (at most – some years the award has not been given at all), in recognition of “outstanding knowledge and great versatility in the application of science to the fields of materials science and engineering, as well as exceptional ability in the diagnosis and solution of diversified materials problems.”

With over 450 papers to his credit, it can be safely said that Conrad has made his mark. Even better, it can also be said that he’s not done yet. I’m looking forward to seeing his next one.