What's Bill Nix Been Up To ?

Bill Nix has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on an American scientist.  On a trip to London last July, he was inducted into the Royal Society, the oldest scientific society in the world.

Part of the ceremony was his signing of the Book of Fellows, a book created when the Royal Society was founded in 1660.  It includes, among others, the signatures of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Benjamin Franklin.

Bill gave a talk on the work he and his students at Stanford had done that led to this honor.  They discovered that strength is not dependent on the size of the material, as Galileo had postulated in 1638, but instead showed a 'Smaller-is-Stronger' effect.  While Galileo's rule has held for more than 380 years and is the basis for the construction of all modern buildings, it breaks down at the small dimensions of materials in computer chips and other similar devices.  Bill explained why this occurs and how it can be used to create better materials.

Bill has been a professor of materials science at Stanford for more than 60 years, and he has trained more than 80 doctoral students, many of whom contributed to the work cited here.  His work with his students had previously led to his election to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

    Serves me right.  I shouldn't have asked!