Commentary: The Hash House Harriers and the winding path to materials discovery

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · APL materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4917192· OSTI ID:22415265

Canfield, Paul C. ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 (United States)

Materials science research can be both very demanding and extremely rewarding. In this Commentary, in my own research of new electronic and magnetic materials, I give numerous exemplars of the path followed to materials discovery. I also highlight the parallels between my research experiences with the pastime of running. I hope that my thoughts will help guide junior researchers along the often tortuous and exciting path to new materials and that I can teach them to be open minded and persistent about following new lines of discovery. “No-pain, no-gain” applies to many things in life, running and scientific research being just two examples, but I hope in the case of scientific research that I can convince you the gain normally outweighs the pain.

• OSTI ID: 22415265
• Journal Information: APL materials, Vol. 3, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2015 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2166-532X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
MAGNETIC MATERIALS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
NANOSTRUCTURES