George D. Quinn is a Guest Researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD. Mr. Quinn received a Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University in 1973.

Mr. Quinn began his career as a cooperative student in 1969 in the Ceramics Division of the U.S. Army Laboratory in Watertown, Mass. He continued as a research ceramic engineer from 1973 to 1990. He then joined the Ceramics Division at the NIST as a research ceramic engineer until his retirement in 2009. He has continued work at NIST ever since as a Guest Researcher.  He was an exchange scientist at the DLR in Cologne, Germany from 1987 to 1988.

Mr. Quinn’s accomplishments include:  247 technical papers and reports, 1 patent, 23 documentary standards, Standard Reference Materials, 7 international round robins, and 3 editions of his Fractography book. He is a world-recognized expert on mechanical properties, fractography, and failure analysis of ceramics and glasses. He has co-taught numerous courses including Fractography at Alfred University for the last 25 years, and Ceramics at Northeastern University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as an adjunct professor. He co-taught a course on Fractography of Dental Ceramics 2007 to 2016. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Testing and Materials. He was the chairman or vice chairman of ASTM Committee C-28 Advanced Ceramics from 1986 to 1997. He was chairman of the Versailles Advanced Materials and Standards TWA 3, Ceramics from 1990 to 2000. He was elected to the World Academy of Ceramics in 2009. He was awarded a U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 2000.

He has been a member of the Basic Sciences Division of ACerS since 1974. He became a Fellow in 2001. He received the Global Ambassador Award in 2020. He has been teaching the short course on Mechanical Properties of Ceramics and Glasses since 2011.

George continues studies of mechanical test methods and fractographic analyses of ceramics and has plans to write 2 new Guide books. He also has an active interest in ancient Roman glass and has a private collection at home.