1970-1987 Informal co-operation

The Materials Science Centre started as an informal co-operation between various researchers working in the field of materials science.

The oldest extant document in the history of the MSC is a letter (in Dutch) by Professors C. Haas and F. Jellinek, dated 26-01-1970, proposing to their colleagues the creation of a "Working Group" for Materials Science. This Working Group would aim to improve collaboration between various laboratories within the university. One of the means proposed to achieve this goal was the organization of scientific meetings to discuss work in progress in the various laboratories. As an essential part of such meetings, coffee breaks of long duration are explicitly mentioned.

A handwritten reaction to this proposal was sent by Professor A.W. Sleeswijk on 28-01-1970. He fully endorsed the proposal and suggested calling the Working Group a "Centre" or "Center", quoting the Materials Science Center at MIT as an example. This is the first-known mention of the name Materials Science Center for our organization. The change to the currently-used British spelling of "Centre" took place later.

Related chapters on our history:

1987-1993: Research Institute

1993-1999: Research Institute and School

1999-2006: National Research Center MSC ^plus

2007-now:  Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials