Gonzalo J.A., Jimenez B. (Eds.) Ferroelectricity: The Fundamentals Collection

Wiley-VCH Verlag GinbH & Co, Weinheim, Germany, 2005. — 194 p. — ISBN: 3527404864The prehistory of ferroelectricity, or rather, the early history of ferroelectricity, begins, as pointed out by Prof. Sidney B. Lang (Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel) with the early-recorded observation of pyroelectricity more than twenty-three centuries ago. The Greek author Teophrastus wrote that the mineral “lyngourion” (probably tourmaline) showed the property of being able to
attract little bits ofwood. This property must have had something to do with the heating/cooling of the mineral in question. More recently, in the 18th century, investigations of the phenomenon of pyroelectricity made a significant contribution to early researches in electrostatics. In the following century this contributions were extended to other researches in mineralogy, thermodynamics,
crystal physics, etc. Piezoelectric effects were intimately connected also with the discovery of piezoelectricity in 1880 by the Curie brothers in France, and forty years later, withthe discovery of ferroelectricity in 1921 by Valasek in the US.Foreword
Selected Early Work 1921-1961
Ferroelectrics 1966-2001: An Overview
Phase Transitions in Ferroelectrics: Some Historical and Other Remarks
Theory of Ferroelectrics
Ferroelectric Ceramics: History and Technology
Tenth International Meeting on Ferroelectricity: IMF-10, a Jubilee Meeting