(i'm a material scientist by training and by trade (up till a month ago)) to me, the history of materials improvements is the history of materials characteriza

(i'm a material scientist by training and by trade (up till a month ago)) to me, the history of materials improvements is the history of materials characterization techniques. so much of materials science is just trying to figure out the right lever to pull to control some property, and modern tools like electron microscopy, tga/dsc, xps, afm, bet, etc. all provide amazing insight that was simply unavailable 150 years ago. but also, 150 years is a really long time frame. people were only just beginning to study material fatigue in the mid 1800s.