Chapter 5: The Postwar Period: 1946-1950 

The Institute 

With the end of hostilities in Europe and the Pacific, MIT faced the task of reconversion to peacetime activities. This called for the demobilization of wartime projects, the organization of instruction for returning veterans and other students, the rebuilding of a long-range educational program, and the planning of research, as well as the necessary physical and financial arrangements. The wartime constraints were being removed and prewar goals reestablished, but the reconversion was far more than a return to the status quo of 1939. 

...

Graduate programs were offered in process metallurgy, physical metallurgy. and ceramics. In 1947, a graduate program in mineral engineering was added. Master's and Doctor's degrees were offered in all these areas. In 1948-49, the degrees of Metallurgical Engineer, Ceramic Engineer and Mineral Engineer were introduced. The Master's, Doctor's and Engineer's degrees required course work and research in different proportions and at different levels. The Master's degree did not call for a general examination and the Doctor's degree did not require credit for a specific set or number of courses. The Engineer's degree emphasized course work more than thesis research. A major innovation was the introduction of a sequence of courses in Physical Metallurgy I, II, and III, which dealt with the scientific and applied aspects of the subject. The sequence Metallurgical Engineering I and II covered the principles underlying production processes, e.g., heat transfer, and unit processes, e.g., smelting. The traditional distinction between ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy was abandoned. Mineralogy replaced a course in ceramics; the language requirement for undergraduates was dropped. 
A new curriculum for the mineral engineering option included more metallurgy, more geology, and less traditional mineraI dressing than formerly. In view of subsequent developments in the metal mining industries, the following statement in the President's Report for 1946-47 is of interest: "Graduates of such an option are needed if the United States is to continue to hold its economic position as the leading producer of most metals in the face of dwindling supplies of high-grade ores." 
Several publications by members of the Department's faculty during this period relate to educational philosophy and practice. Chipman (1947) analyzed the personnel needs of the steel industry and the nature of metallurgy, and drew from his analysis conclusions regarding metallurgical education. He discussed educational questions also in an article in 1948 and in the 1949 Howe Memorial Lecture (figure, opposite page). Bever and Floe, in "Undergraduate Instruction in Physical Metallurgy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (1949), described undergraduate instruction in physical metallurgy at MIT in the context of the new curriculum. 
Metals Processing Division 
In a press release dated June 19, 1946, President Compton announced an expansion of the facilities for instruction and research in the field of engineering materials and the establishment of a laboratory of mechanical metallurgy. The announcement stated: " ... the requirements of government services during the war for rapid, high-quality production of materials and devices demonstrated the need for a fundamental re-examination of materials processing techniques such as casting, welding, brazing, and forging. Research and development during the war was limited not only to new devices, but included new methods of fabrication. This experience revealed promising avenues for future research in a field of fundamental importance to almost every branch of industry." It should be noted that the announcement used the term "materials," although in the context it referred essentially to metals. 
The Metals Processing Division was established through the transfer of facilities, developed by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, to the new laboratory, which was to be administered by the Department of Metallurgy. The laboratory was placed under the supervision of Professor John Wulff, who was joined by Professor Howard Taylor and several junior staff members. The arrangement provided for cooperation in teaching and 
57 
Ceramics Laboratory 
research between the two departments under the guidance of an interdepartmental committee composed of Professor C. Richard Soderberg for the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professor John Chipman for the Departmentof Metallurgy. Later the two departments shared the occupancy of the Sloan Metals Processing Laboratory, as will be men tioned in the next chapter. 
Some teaching functions were transferred in 1946 to the Department of Metallurgy from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with the transfer of the physical facilities. Undergraduates in mechanical engineering, metallurgy, and the Physical Sciences option of business management were instructed in engineering metals in the Department of Metallurgy. 
Graduate Studies 
In the first postwar academic year, the enrollment of graduate students in the Department increased fourfold over prewar years. At the same time, advances in metallurgy, ceramics, and mineral engineering called for more elaborate and expensive research equipment and techniques. The graduate program required flexibility, new standards, and funding of equipment, supplies, and services. 
Graduate programs were offered in process metallurgy, physical metallurgy. and ceramics. In 1947, a graduate program in mineral engineering was added. Master's and Doctor's degrees were offered in all these areas. In 1948-49, the degrees of Metallurgical Engineer, Ceramic Engineer and Mineral Engineer were introduced. The Master's, Doctor's and Engineer's degrees required course work and research in different proportions and at different levels. The Master's degree did not call for a general examination and the Doctor's degree did not require credit for a specific set or number of courses. The Engineer's degree emphasized course work more than thesis research. 
I 

Research 

Nearly the entire research program of the Department in the second half of the 1940s was carried out as graduate thesis research, as reported by Professors Chipman and Floe in a memorandum of April 29, 1948 to the President's Office. A brochure issued in 1949 stated that new graduate students "often start a research project as soon as they arrive." Looking beyond the 1940s, it should be mentioned that in the 1950s postdoctoral research associates and, later, several grades of full-time staff members participated increasingly in the Department's research. 

The President's Report for 1946-47 stated that "government sponsored research continues on a large scale" and gave the following examples: 

• Two projects sponsored by AEC (the Atomic Energy Commission) 
• Development of alloys for high-temperature service
• Iron-nitrogen alloys 
• Vapor deposition of refractory metals 
• Development of high-temperature refractories with good temperature-shock resistance 
• Dimensional stability of metals 
• Physical chemistry of steelmaking 
• Study of erosion-resistant materials 
• Permeability of porous metal parts 
• Effect of strain on hardening of steel 
• Hard metal carbides 
• Chemical properties of intermetallic compounds 

The booklet "Current Research in the Department of Metallurgy" (1949) listed the following classes of research: 

• Physical Metallurgy 
• High Temperature Metals Corrosion 
• Chemical and Process Metallurgy
• Mechanical Metallurgy and Metal Processing
• Foundry 
• Mineral Engineering
• Ceramics 
• Classified Research 

The absence of physics of metals should be noted. 

Department Organization 

Professor Williams, after. serving as Deputy Dean of Engineering and Dean of Army and Navy Students during the later war years, returned to his position as head of the Department in August 1945. He retired at the end of the academic year 1945-46 and was succeeded as Department Head by John Chipman (1946-62) with Carl Floe as Executive Officer (1946-52). 

In 1945-46, faculty members who had been involved in war-related activities were able to resume their academic work. Scientific and technical developments and changes in lecture and laboratory courses called for regrouping and promotions of faculty members, as well as additions to the faculty. The Department's new teaching commitments in the areas of engineering metals and metals processing, foundry metallurgy, and powder metallurgy, followed by deformation processing, brought Howard Taylor to the Department as a senior faculty member in 1946 and required a greatly enlarged junior teaching staff. Other subject areas also were expanded and required new faculty assignments accompanied by promotions (Bever and Grant in 1946) or recruitment from outside, as in corrosion (Uhlig in 1946). Promotions and appointments are shown in the chart of faculty members (see Chart 2 or Appendix E). 

Facilities 

Professor Williams submitted to the Visiting Committee of the Department a report dated October 1, 1945 on "Post-War Requirements for the Department of Metallurgy." He pointed out that several academic institutions "are increasing staffs and planning new laboratories for metallurgy. If MIT is to continue as a leader in this field, funds must be obtained to make laboratories and staff equal to those available elsewhere." He added that "it has never been the custom at MIT to exploit any special field of metallurgy, but rather to excel in all phases of the science and to maintain the best possible balance between them. It is therefore necessary for us to have larger staffs and more laboratories than the average institution." 

Williams's report listed the following needs of the Department: 

• Modernization of the laboratories; 
• Additional space for increased numbers of students, particularly research space; 
• Additional space and equipment for research to serve the needs of government and industry; 
• Fellowships and grants in aid to increase the amount of research. 

The report estimated the total cost of meeting these needs as $565,000. In addition, a recommended Option 1 would have involved the construction of a new building, the ground floor of which "with two-story ceiling would house the mechanical metallurgy laboratory" and would have cost $875,000. Alternatively, an Option 2 proposed a shop-type building "to house the mechanical metallurgy laboratory and all other large-scale equipment now in Building 8" at a cost of $300,000. 

The report gave as its "purpose ... to put the problem before the Visiting Committee in the hope that suggestions will be made as to the best methods for its solution." No record of the Visiting Committee's response seems to be available. However, the report was the first concrete proposal of a metal processing laboratory. Several years later this came to fruition as the Sloan Metals Processing Laboratory. In the meantime, the teaching program and laboratory in mechanical metallurgy under Professor John Wulff had been initiated in 1946, as mentioned earlier in this chapter.  58