Anthony G. Evans. 4 December 1942—9 September 2009

Abstract

Anthony G. Evans was one of the leading scientists of his generation in the field of materials. He worked during a period in which materials development and application emerged as being central to many technological advances, and materials science came into its own as an area of research and application. This memoir describes Evans’ remarkable influence and contribution to materials science and more broadly to engineering science. Evans had no rival when it came to the grasp of the underlying fundamentals of material behaviour, coupled with an extraordinary ability to focus his attention and to inspire and lead collaborative efforts. Evans brought people together, and he brought out the best in people. Evans’ productivity was prodigious, with well over 600 technical papers to his credit. Over the course of his career, he collaborated with over 400 individual co-authors. At the time of his death, Evans was the most highly cited materials scientist, and he continues to be one of the most cited more than 10 years later. A short list of subjects to which Evans made major contributions includes the exploration of virtually all aspects of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of advanced ceramics, ceramic matrix and metal matrix composites, thin film mechanics, interface fracture, thermal barrier coatings, metallic foams, morphing structures, aerospace materials for high temperature applications, lightweight lattice materials, and the design of materials and structures for resistance to blast and ballistic impact.