Cyril S.Smith, A History of Metallography: The Development of Ideas on the Structure of Metals Before 1890, Mit Press, 1988

Cyril Smith's study of the structure of metals and alloys and the properties that result from their processing remains, after more than two decades, a foundational work on the history of metallography. It starts from the intuitive knowledge of metals achieved by such early artists and craftsmen as Biringuccio, Descartes, Réaumur, Bréant, Osmond, Sorby, Brinell, Tschernoff, Howe, Percy and others, and then describes the evolution of the modern scientific understanding of materials. Throughout, the author emphasizes the interplay of contributions from practical engineering, from experimental and theoretical science, and from the workings of the aesthetic imagination.

The original hardcover edition of A History of Metallography won the Pfizer Prize of the History of Science Society.

Cyril Stanley Smith is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and author of A Search for Structure: Selected Essays on Science, Art, and History (MIT Press paperback).