umankind has evolved by developing tools that have enhanced the quality of H life of individuals and groups. From the beginning, materials were critical for progress from the stone age to the iron and bronze ages, and more recently to the age of advanced materials, including metals, plastics, and composites. Many of the major technological innovations that occurred in the latter half of the 20th century employed polymers as the material of choice. Thus, while materials played an important role in the evolution of technology. it is important to realize that technological developments in other fields have spurred advances in the field of materials.Advances in communications, aerospace, chemistry, physics, medicine, and biotechnology have resulted in new products such as the personal computer, cellular telephone, biotechnology, biomaterials, and microsystems. More important, these advances have changed manufacturing technology dramatically by introducing new tools and concepts of design, production, machinery, instrumentation, and process control. The field of plastics technology has been influenced greatly by these developments. Advances in various emerging fields of science and technology have similarly benefited from advances in the polymer field, while also substantially contributing to the emergence of new concepts of polymer synthesis, production, processing, and characterization. Therefore, it is of great value to polymer scientists and engineers to follow developments not only in their own specialties, but also in other aspects of science and technology.
