Materials Day 1998 – Materials in Medicine

Introduction

Materials Day

Materials Science at the ETH-Zurich has a long and distinguished history. It was not until the late 1980s, however, that the ETH Department of Materials formally came into existence. Our recently founded department has now reached critical mass, with a total of nine professorial chairs and an assistant professorship, covering a broad spectrum of materials science, from steel to hydrogels and from rheology to catalysis. We felt that it was time to institute an annual ETH Materials Day, where the latest developments in our department would be presented to our colleagues, our collaborators, and interested members of the industrial and academic communities in Switzerland and surrounding countries.

Materials in Medicine

Despite the breadth of research interest in our department, there are a number of themes that unite us. Perhaps the most obvious area is biomaterials, and their application in medicine. This topic will form the focus of the first Materials Day. Our activities in this field are broad in scope, including the biomechanics of bone and muscle, tissue engineering, the causes of biocompatibility, and the tribology of implant surfaces. The field is not only of great scientific and humanitarian interest, but also supports a biomaterials industry that is of great importance to the Swiss economy. As the mean life expectancy of the world's population continues to increase, an understanding of biomaterials behaviour and the design of new, tailor-made biomatierals become even more crucial.

Staudinger-Durrer Medal

In order to connect this event with the world materials scene, we have instituted the Staudinger-Durrer Medal for outstanding service to materials science, named after two of the major contributors to materials science to emerge from the ETH in this century. The first recipient of this medal will be Prof. Albert J. Pennings of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, who has been active in many areas of polymer science, and is particularly renowned for his research in biomedical polymers. This award will be presented in a special ceremony during Materials Day.