For many years, various editions of Smallman's Modern Physical Metallurgy have served throughout the world as a standard undergraduate textbook on metals and alloys. In 1995, it was rewritten and enlarged to encompass the related subject of materials science and engineering and appeared under the title Metals & Materials: Science, Processes, Applications offering a comprehensive amount of a much wider range of engineering materials. Coverage ranged from pure elements to superalloys, from glasses to engineering ceramics, and from everyday plastics to in situ composites, Amongst other favourable reviews, Professor Bhadeshia of Cambridge University commented: "Given the amount of work that has obviously gone into this book and its extensive comments, it is very attractively priced. It is an excellent book to be recommend strongly for purchase by undergraduates in materials-related subjects, who should benefit greatly by owning a text containing so much knowledge."
The book now includes new chapters on materials for sports equipment (golf, tennis, bicycles, skiing, etc.) and biomaterials (replacement joints, heart valves, tissue repair, etc.) - two of the most exciting and rewarding areas in current materials research and development. As in its predecessor, numerous examples are given of the ways in which knowledge of the relation between fine structure and properties has made it possible to optimise the service behaviour of traditional engineering materials and to develop completely new and exciting classes of materials. Special consideration is given to the crucial processing stage that enables materials to be produced as marketable commodities. Whilst attempting to produce a useful and relatively concise survey of key materials and their interrelationships, the authors have tried to make the subject accessible to a wide range of readers, to provide insights into specialised methods of examination and to convey the excitement of the atmosphere in which new materials are conceived and developed.
After gaining his PhD in 1953, Professor Smallman spent five years at the Atomic Energy Research
Establishment at Harwell before returning to the University of Birmingham, where he became Professor
of Physical Metallurgy in 1964 and Feeney Professor and Head of the Department of Physical
Metallurgy and Science of Materials in 1969. He subsequently became Head of the amalgamated
Department of Metallurgy and Materials (1981), Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and
the first Dean of the newly created Engineering Faculty in 1985. For five years he wasVice-Principal
of the University (1987-92).
He has held visiting professorship appointments at the University of Stanford, Berkeley, Pennsylvania
(USA), New SouthWales (Australia), Hong Kong and Cape Town, and has received Honorary
Doctorates from the University of Novi Sad (Yugoslavia), University ofWales and Cranfield University.
His research work has been recognized by the award of the Sir George Beilby Gold Medal of the
Royal Institute of Chemistry and Institute of Metals (1969), the Rosenhain Medal of the Institute of
Metals for contributions to Physical Metallurgy (1972), the Platinum Medal, the premier medal of
the Institute of Materials (1989), and the Acta Materialia Gold Medal (2004).
Hewas elected a Fellowof the Royal Society (1986), a Fellowof the RoyalAcademy of Engineering
(1990), a Foreign Associate of the United States National Academy of Engineering (2005), and
appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1992. A former Council Member of the
Science and Engineering Research Council, he has been Vice-President of the Institute of Materials
and President of the Federated European Materials Societies. Since retirement he has been academic
consultant for a number of institutions both in the UK and overseas.
