Didier de Fontaine

Professor, Dept. of Materials Science and Mineral Engineering
469 Evans Hall
University of California, Berkeley CA 94720

510-642-8177
ddf@uclink.berkeley.edu





EDUCATION

  • M.S. (Metallurgical Engineering), University of Louvain (Belgium), 1955
  • Ph.D. (Materials Science), Northwestern University, 1967

    • PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Lecturer, Lovanium University, Congo, 1962-1963
  • Postdoctoral Research, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1966-1968
  • Associate Professor of Materials Science, University of California, Los Angeles, 1969-1975
  • Professor of Materials Science, University of California, Los Angeles, 1976-1978
  • Visiting Professor, Ecole Polytechnique de Grenoble (France), Jan.-June 1979
  • Professor of Materials Science, University of California, Berkeley, 1979-1994
  • Associate Faculty Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1981-1997
  • Emeritus Professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1994-present
    •

    CURRENT RESEARCH

    Research is in the area of phase transformations in alloys, crystallography and thermodynamics of phase changes, particularly ordering reactions and phase separation. Specifically: calculations of phase equilibria by combined quantum and statistical mechanical methods.

    AWARDS AND HONORS

  • Senior Visiting Fellow, Science Research Council, Oxford, 1974
  • Exceptional Creativity Awards, National Science Foundation, 1981 and 1985
  • Chairman, Physical Metallurgy, Gordon Research Conference, 1984
  • Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 1987
  • Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment in Metallurgy and Ceramics, U.S. DOE Awards, 1987 and 1990
  • Fellow, American Physical Society, 1993
  • Awarded Berkeley Citation, 1994
  • Turnbull Award, Materials Research Society, 1995
  • Honorary Member, Japanese Institute of Metals, 2000
  • Fellow, The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), 2003
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    PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES, COMMITTEES, EDITORIAL BOARDS

  • Société Royale Belge des Ingénieurs et Industriels, 1955-present
  • American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1966-present
  • American Crystallographic Association, 1969-present
  • American Physical Society, 1975-present; elected Fellow, 1993
  • ASM Phase Transformation Committee, 1971-1973
  • TMS-AIME Chemistry and Physics of Metals Committee, 1981-1986
  • Hume-Rothery Award Committee, 1982-1984
  • Editorial Board of Phase Transitions, an international journal, 1980-1984
  • Advisory Editorial Board of Computational Materials Science, an international journal, 1991-present
  • Advisory Board, Northwestern University Materials Science Department, 2000-2002
    •

    PUBLICATIONS

    Over 225 publications in the fields of Materials Science and Condensed Matter Physics, including two major review articles for "Solid State Physics". Complete bibliography.

    Some additional writings (full text):

  • Voyage to India, a travelogue.
  • Around the World in 40 Days, a longer trip, a longer travelogue.
  • On Science and Religion and the Dracula Syndrome. Do you wish to keep Count Dracula at bay? Try sience, it's better than garlic.
  • Concerning the Fall of TWA 800, Swissair 111, and EgyptAir 990; the Unfriendly Skies Scenario. Critique of the preposterous hypothesis proposed by Harvard literature Professor Elaine Scarry, as published in three lengthy articles in the prestigious literary Magazine New York Review of Books. An abridged and edited version of this text was published in the May 2001 issue of the magazine Commentary, Vol. 111, #5, pp. 38-42.
  • Review of a book by contemporary British composer Jonathan Harvey.
  • Discussion of a talk given by Professor Theodore Roszak at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Institute of Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics (INPA) plus Professor Roszak's reply and other comments by readers.
  • Flat Worlds: Today and in Antiquity; essay on the concept of flat cosmology in ancient tradition and according to latest views of the inflation-generated universe.


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