Von Hippel Award Presented to John W. Cahn
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CITATION: "To John Cahn for pioneering research in a broad spectrum of materials science, especially on phase separation in solids, including spinodal decomposition, on thermodynamic properties of interfaces, on thermodynamics of stress solids, on solid trapping during rapid solidification and most recently on quasi-crystals exhibiting icosahedral symmetry."
John W. Cahn (right) receives 1985 Von Hippel Award from Awards Committee Chair Woody White. The ceremony was held Monday evening, December 2, during the MRS Fall Meeting. We are privileged to have with us tonight a man who has been very familiar with Dr. Cahn and his contributions to materials research, David Turnbull of Harvard University, who has been closely associated with Dr. Cahn for more than 30 years. Prof. Turnbull will now summarize some of Cahn's monumental achievements and try to put them into perspective for you. D. Turnbull: I will only reiterate and perhaps elaborate a bit on the remarks that were presented in the MRS BULLETIN about John Cahn's career. I would like to start by suggesting that perhaps the core element in materials science, to borrow a term from one of the Harvard deans, is classical thermodynamics and the principles of the architecture of condensed phases. I think that John Cahn by his achievements has reflected a tremendous mastery and a deep understanding of these core elements of materials science that cut across all the various disciplines of materials science: ceramics, metallurgy, solid state physics, solid state chemistry, and so on. The one way to measure the achievements of an individual is in terms of what his achievements—his research— has contributed to science. We have various "house-
PAGE 40, MRS BULLETIN, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1986
hold" words in materials science, that have become familiar as a result of John's achievements and they, to some extent, summarize the progression of what he's done. These terms are, of course, spinodal, the CahnHilliard equation for free energy, the Cahn diffusion equation. These terms are now familiar in the ceramics literature and the metallurgy literature, and they even find their way frequently into the lofty precincts of the Physical Review Letters. John has been a tremendous admirer of Willard Gibbs and, justifiably, he has been considered to be almost a latter-day Gibbs in the power and rigor of his thought and in the magnitude of his achievements. An award is not so much to reward the recipient as it is something that basically honors the award. We might also mention that the award also serves the purpose to call attention to significant landmark contributions. I know that I speak for Prof. Von Hippel and the other recipients of this award that we are very pleased with the selection of John Cahn as recipient of the award, and we feel that the luster of the award is certainly upheld by the selection. Editor's Note: Prof. Turnbull received the Von Hippel Award in 1979.
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