Introduction

With the progress of high-tech industry, the modern society is changing rapidly. Taking into account the blazing speed of evolution for the past few decades, the upcoming 21st century may be a new generation, at which SF novelists' dreams come true. The basis of this high-tech industry is the Materials Science and Engineering. In many cases, the overall performance of a product is limited by the properties of the materials that make up the product.

For example, human beings have dreamed of cultivating the space long before. To build a space shuttle that transports people and goods is essential for this. We are no wonder that the space shuttles carry out their mission quite successfully for now. But the reason the space shuttle project had been delayed was the absence of insulating materials to shield the body from heat during entrance to the atmosphere. Moreover, history categorizes ancient cultures into Stone Age, Bronze Age and Steel Age. This kind of division is reasonable since the degree of civilization can be estimated by the tools which contemporary people used, or more precisely, the material with which the tools were made. Some people call the present age New Stone Age, others New Steel Age, Silicon Age, Plastic Age and so on. But what is important is that before or since, all civilizations have been categorized by the material they used. To be calmly speak, the civilizations which had not succeeded in inventing or discovering new materials was naturally wiped out from the surface of earth. And the relationships between nations can be viewed in a similar manner. A nation without predominant material research, it could not escape being subordinated to forefront nations.

As stated above, Materials Science and Engineering holds an important position in development of a nation's industry so that it indicates the competitive power of the nation. Mechanical engineering such as automotive industry and shipbuilding industry, which have contributed the most in hauling our country to one of the forefronts, has its base on the iron and steel industry. Advancement of Urban engineering, construction works, civil engineering has their base on cement industry. Semiconductor industry which is a most important portion of telecommunications has its base on numerous efforts of material scientists to enhance processes. Whatever upcoming field will be, Materials Science and Engineering will always play a major role.