[Image above] Instructor Patrick Barragan (MechE) conducts a demo for a group of beginning students in the W. David Kingery Ceramics and Glass Lab at MIT. Credit: Peter Houk
Dr. William David Kingery, renowned doctor and materials scientist, is still revered for his myriad contributions to the study of modern ceramics.
Kingery passed away in 2000, but his work in advanced materials technology in ceramics at the University of Arizona and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has stood the test of time. “[It] was vastly different from the hands-on methods that produced bricks, china, pottery and glass from natural materials through the ages. He built upon recent advances in high polymers, solid-state physics and crystallography to bring ceramics into the era of aerospace and electronics engineering,” The New York Times reported in an article at the time of Kingery’s death.
In April, we reported that MIT’s materials science and engineering department reopened the W. David Kingery Ceramics and Glass Laboratory (previously named the MIT Glass Lab). According to an MIT news release, the renovation not only adds more space but new equipment, increased safety features, and improved ventilation systems.
Check out the lab—as well as MIT’s Merton C. Flemings Materials Processing Laboratory in this short MIT video.
Credit: MIT School of Engineering; YouTube
Recently, Peter Houk, director of the W. David Kingery Ceramics and Glass Lab at MIT, sent us some pictures of the lab in action—with students engaged in hands-on experiments and projects.
Instructor Patrick Barragan (MechE) conducts a demo for a group of beginning students in the W. David Kingery Ceramics and Glass Lab at MIT. Credit: Peter Houk
A student works with a furnace in the W. Kingery Ceramics and Glass Lab at MIT. Credit: Peter Houk
Students join together in the W. David Kingery Ceramics and Glass Lab to work on projects. Credit: Peter Houk
MIT reports that an anonymous donor gifted the university with funds to rename the lab in honor of Kingery, who MIT calls “a pioneer in the study of ceramics.”
ACerS also honors Kingery through the annual presentation of an award in his name. The W. David Kingery Award recognizes distinguished lifelong achievements involving multidisciplinary and global contributions to ceramic technology, science, education, and art.