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SUMMARY:HONORARY FELLOWS LECTURE - Evolution in action: Materials\, Design
  and Sustainability - Professor Michael F Ashby\, CBE FRS FREng\, Emeritus
  Professor of Materials\,  Department of Engineering
DTSTART:20170301T180000Z
DTEND:20170301T190000Z
UID:TALK68906@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Beverley Larner
DESCRIPTION:In the (very) beginning here was hydrogen and helium.  Fusion 
 in stars and nuclear reactions in supernovae created\, over time\, the ele
 ments we now have access to on earth.  Bit by bit we have developed an und
 erstanding of these elements and what can be done with them\, moving from 
 the age of empiricism and alchemy to the present-day Science of Materials\
 , an impressive body of knowledge but one that is still incomplete.  As th
 is understanding developed\, so too did the range of materials and propert
 ies on which a designer could draw – and draw on it they did\, creating 
 a vast range of products on which we now depend.  But dependence is not wi
 thout its own problems.  The designer of the 19th century drew on a relati
 vely small portfolio of widely available elements\; designers today rely o
 n access to most of the Periodic Table\, not all of it so widely available
 .  Supply chain constraints\, environmental legislation\, economic competi
 tion and simple scarcity now make access to materials a matter of national
  geopolitical and economic concern.  Meanwhile the complexity of design ha
 s increased\, driven by the desire for greater functionality\, consumer ap
 peal\, safety\, environmental protection and – today – the target of 
 “sustainability”\, whatever that means. The talk ends by illustrating 
 one way of exploring sustainable development in a materials context and th
 e direction in which thinking is now going.
LOCATION:Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre\, Department of Chemistry
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