Australia Establishes Materials Science Committee
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Australia Establishes Materials Science Committee Materials research in Australia covers a wide specrrum of interests and involves many gênerai and specialized scientific societies. Until recently there has been relatively little in the way of coordinated activity, but the establishment of the Australian Materials Science Committee as an Adhering Body of the International Union of Materials Research Societies is a first step toward remedying this situation. Australian science is unusual on the world scène because of the key rôle played by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, CSIRO, which has a staff of about 3,000 professional scientists and a total staff of 7,000. CSIRO activities cover the entire specrrum of science, except for medicine and nuclear science, and several laboratories are extensively involved in materials fields. Other government laboratories, particularly those of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) and those of the Défense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO) similarly hâve major involvement in materials for their own more spécifie purposes. Universities play their usual important rôle in both teaching and research, supported by grants from the Australian Research Coun-
cil, and many hâve significant programs in materials-related areas. Industrial research in Australia falls short of matching that in the governmentsupported sector, and this is a source of gênerai concern. Within the materials area, however, there are major industrial laboratories associated with the largest Australian producers of steel, aluminum, and related materials. Materials-related activities are the focus of groups within several of the major scientific societies, notably the Institution of Engineers (including the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy), the Australian Institute of Physics, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Australian Ceramics Society, and several specialized societies dealing with x-ray diffraction, électron microscopy, and related instrumental techniques. Many of thèse societies hold annual conférences in which materials topics play a large part, and for the past 20 years the Australian Institute of Physics has held a well-attended annual conférence on solidstate physics, which is now expanding to embrace other more applied aspects of materials science. The rôle of the new Committee, whose membership will consist of nominees of
appropriate scientific and engineering societies, industry associations, and relevant government departments or agencies, is seen to be essentially one of exchanging information and coordinating activities between complementary groups in the materials community. There is no thought of constituting a stand-alone materials Society in compétition with the programs of existing societies. An additional important task of the new Committee will be to strengthen links between those working with materials in industry and those whose concerns are more with advances on the research front. Initial meetings of représent
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