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

Journal Article · Tue Apr 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · APL Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4917192 · OSTI ID:1201660

Canfield, Paul C. ^[1]

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1. Ames Laboratory, Ames, IA (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.

• Research Organization: Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11358
• OSTI ID: 1201660
• Journal Information: APL Materials, Journal Name: APL Materials Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 3; ISSN AMPADS; ISSN 2166-532X
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English