David Turnbull (February 18, 1915 – April 28, 2007) was an American physical chemist who worked in the interdisciplinary fields of materials science and

applied physics Applied physics is the application of physics to solve scientific or engineering problems. It is usually considered to be a bridge or a connection between physics and engineering. "Applied" is distinguished from "pure" by a subtle combination ...

. Turnbull made seminal contribution to solidification theory and glass formation. Turnbull was born in Elmira, Elmira Township, Stark County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. He graduated from high school in 1932 and then received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 1936 from

Monmouth College Monmouth College is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Monmouth, Illinois. Monmouth enrolls approximately 900 students from 21 countries who choose courses from 40 major programs, 43 minors, and 17 pre-professional programs in a ...

(Illinois), specializing in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistica ...

. He received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

under T. E. Phipps from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 1939. He was on the faculty of

Case Institute of Technology Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location i ...

from 1939 to 1946David Turnbull
''Harvard Gasette'' (November 4, 2010 ) before eventually becoming a professor at Harvard University. In 1946, he joined the

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

research laboratory, performing research into nucleation of structural transformations occurring during the solidification of liquid metals, demonstrating that such complex processes could be quantitatively understood. Using a low-melting-point metal, mercury, Turnbull determined that the small

supercooling Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid or a gas below its melting point without it becoming a solid. It achieves this in the absence of a seed crystal or nucleus around which a crystal ...

s usually seen were the result of

heterogeneous catalysts In chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis is catalysis where the phase of catalysts differs from that of the reactants or products. The process contrasts with homogeneous catalysis where the reactants, products and catalyst exist in the same phase. P ...

in the melt. When liquid mercury is dispersed as small droplets, large supercoolings could be achieved. The previously empirical study of metal solidification was provided a consistent scientific foundation. Turnbull and his General Electric colleagues developed

metal alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

processing. Turner and I. S. Servi developed homogeneous nucleation theory for a solid-solid transformation, providing the technologically important basis for strengthening metallic alloys through

precipitation hardening Precipitation hardening, also called age hardening or particle hardening, is a heat treatment technique used to increase the yield strength of malleable materials, including most structural alloys of aluminium, magnesium, nickel, titanium, and ...

. With Morrel Cohen, he developed the free volume theory for fluid flow. In 1950, Turnbull formulated a criterion for the ease of glass formation from supercooled melts with a high viscosity by rapid solidification. Independently and simultaneously to Cohen, he predicted the formation of

metallic glass An amorphous metal (also known as metallic glass, glassy metal, or shiny metal) is a solid metallic material, usually an alloy, with disordered atomic-scale structure. Most metals are crystalline in their solid state, which means they have a high ...

phases from sufficiently fast cooling of an alloy melt with a deep eutectic. This was demonstrated by

Pol Duwez Pol Duwez (11 December 1907 – 31 December 1984) was a Belgian-born materials scientist. While working at Caltech in 1960, he first introduced metallic glasses made through rapid liquid cooling using a technique known as splat quenching Spla ...

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in 1959, who produced thin micron-sized sheets of an Au-Si alloy using a very high cooling rate (approximately 10⁶ K/s). H. S. Chen showed in 1971 that mm-sized glassy rods (so-called "bulk metallic glass," or BMG) of Pd-Cu-Si could be produced by suction casting with a cooling rate of 1000 K/s. In 1982, Turnbull then demonstrated that a bulk metallic glass could be produced in the Pd-Ni-P system with a cooling rate as low as 100 K/s. In 1955, Turnbull and Frederick Seitz published the first edition of Solid State Physics, a yearly series now published by

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as '' The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', ...

. In 1962, Turnbull joined

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

as the Gordon McKay Professor of

, where he taught for 23 years. One of his

graduate students Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and str ...

at Harvard described him as follows: "As a physicist, manager, psychologist and philosopher, he combines the erudition of a Renaissance scholar with the expert knowledge of a 20th century man of Science."

Alexander N. Rossolimo Alexander N. Rossolimo is an American think tank executive, entrepreneur, and corporate director. Early life and education Rossolimo was born in Paris. His parents were Nicolas Rossolimo, an International Grandmaster of chess, and Véra (née Bo ...

, in preface to "Atomic transport and phase changes in the lead-gold system", Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 1973, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1968, was a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, and was awarded the Japan Prize in 1986 "for pioneering contributions to material science".Laureates of the Japan Prize
japanprize.jp He received the

Franklin Medal The Franklin Medal was a science award presented from 1915 until 1997 by the Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the Am ...

in 1990. David Turnbull died on April 28, 2007, at the age of 92, in his home in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. He was survived by two sons and a daughter.

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnbull, David 1915 births 2007 deaths Monmouth College alumni American metallurgists American physical chemists University of Illinois alumni John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society