MRS History
Beginning with a vision of a "materials-blind" society in the late 1960s, a few forward-looking individuals, with an eye toward advancing the cause of interdisciplinary research, made that vision a reality—the Materials Research Society, officially founded in 1973. The society's core principles were interdisciplinarity, focused symposia and greater interaction among researchers. These principles make MRS different from single-discipline professional societies because they encourage communication and technical information exchange across the various fields of science affecting materials. Read more about MRS' founding in "The founding of MRS—The rise of interdisciplinarity" (PDF) from the April 2016 MRS Bulletin.
This page includes links that highlight MRS' history and future, including the MRS History Timeline that covers important milestones for the Society.
We invite you to watch these videos that tell the story of MRS — its history, where it is today and where the society is heading in the future:
Bruce Clemens, 2012 MRS President discusses the founding of MRS, the MRS Mission Statement, and MRS at 40 years.
Orlando Auciello, 2013 MRS President discusses MRS at 40 years, MRS an International Community, and Advocacy & Policy.
In this MRS TV interview from the 2013 MRS Fall Meeting, Robert Huggins, a founding member of MRS, talks about the past, present and future direction of the society.
MRS TV is back to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Materials Research Society! We're taking a look back at how far MRS has come in the last 5 decades, through all of the research it's motivated, and all the relationships it's fostered.
"During the course of the year we expanded many of the programs already existing and also promoted new events regarding DEI. Events during the meetings address our under represented ethnic minority students." Sabrina Satori, 2023 MRS President |
50th Anniversary MRS Bulletin Articles and Videos
A series of articles from 2023 and 2024 MRS Bulletin issues discussed the enlightenments of the previous 50 years of materials research, and peered into the future at what the next 50 years of discoveries will be.
- 50 years of materials research
MRS Bulletin
- Things I didn’t and still don’t fully understand
Elton N. Kaufmann
- Materials Research Society celebrates 50th anniversary at 2023 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit
Judy Meiksin, Kunwar Abhikeern, Ekaterina Antimirova, Grace Hu, Atif Javaid, Cullen Walsh, Elizabeth Wilson & Richard Wu
MRS Timeline
Press & Public Relations Contact
Communications Manager
Materials Research Society