The German Society for Metallurgy was founded on 27 November 1919 in Berlin. At that time, materials science and engineering were still in their infancy, especially in the field of non-ferrous metals. From the very beginning, the DGM saw itself as a scientific society in which a wide variety of scientific and technical disciplines were represented. At the same time, however, it was important to build a “bridge between science and practice”, which is why it also had to cope with the tasks of a technical-scientific association. This multiplex character characterizes the DGM to this day. With the advent of the “New Materials” in the course of the 1980s, the DGM expanded its tasks to include all technical and scientific materials and in 1989 renamed itself the German Society for Materials Science.
The present documentation aims to reconstruct the technical and scientific joint work of the DGM in the context of the political-economic upheavals. To this end, the minutes of the Board of Directors and relevant specialist bodies were evaluated in the first place. Particular attention will be paid to the development of the system of technical committees, which must be regarded as the engines of innovation. In general, the establishment of committees reflects those specific technical, scientific and practical areas that were considered to be particularly promising. The historical development of today’s materials science and engineering is revealed not least in the DGM awards, whose recipients are also honored here biographically.
