Editorial for JECR special issue on defects & relaxation processes in crystalline and amorphous solids

Abstract

Key physical and chemical properties of functional materials depend largely on the existence of structural and electronic defects within their crystalline lattices or amorphous structure. This special issue on Defects & Relaxation Processes in Crystalline and Amorphous Solids is dedicated to the late Professor Arthur Stanley Nowick, a pioneer in the modeling and characterization of defect formation and transport by anelastic and dielectric relaxation behavior and ionic conductivity. Professor Nowick made seminal contributions to our understanding of fast oxygen and proton conduction in oxides, alkali metal ion transport in quartz and glasses, diffusion in metals and metal halides, dislocation motion and generation in metals, morphological stability, surface structure and the application of dilatometry and X-ray diffraction for the identification and monitoring of defects in solids. [1] He was highly regarded for the clarity of his writing, having authored two authoritative books in the defects field including, Anelastic Relaxation in Crystalline Solids, (coauthored with Brian S. Berry) in 1972, [2] and Crystal Properties via Group Theory in 1995. [3] His career was split between academia and industry, serving as Assistant/Associate Professor of Metallurgy, Yale Univ. (1951–57) and later as Professor of Metallurgy and Materials Science & Henry Marion Howe Professor, Columbia Univ. (1966–93). While at Columbia, he received the Great Teacher Award (1987). In the intervening years, he served as the Head of the metallurgy group at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. Outside of his scientific career, he was an accomplished pianist, with wide-ranging interests in classical music and jazz. An insightful description of his career and accomplishments was published in 2012 by Prof. Daniel N. Beshers, his longtime Columbia University colleague and collaborator [4].