What is civilization? Why should we care about having even better microelectronic devices than we have now? How will new materials solve the world's most urgent problems? Will new materials explain the origin of the universe? What are multiferroics and why are they interesting?

Materials scientists make materials for shelter, tools, transportation, information technologies, health, as well as recreation and the arts… all of the essentials and luxuries without which our lives would be unimaginable. Every advance in human civilization, from the Stone Age to today’s Silicon Age, has been driven by a development in materials.

The transition from Hunter-Gatherer societies to the adoption of agriculture at the Neolithic revolution coincided with developments in processing techniques for natural materials such as stone so that tools for grinding or cutting could be produced.

The discovery of the smelting process to extract metals from mineral ores ushered in a new era, the Bronze Age, associated with the establishment of cities and the beginning of crafts and trade. Many years later, the development of the semiconductor transistor whose main properties are essentially quantum mechanical, first in germanium and soon after in silicon because of its superior material properties, became certainly one of the most significant breakthroughs of the 20th Century.

So, what's next? Nicola Spaldin, material science superstar, will present a new class of materials – multiferroics – that are both a playground for exploring exciting fundamental science, and a potential enabler of transformative beyond-silicon technologies. What has all this with the universe and Cosmos? You will find out.

Afterwards, chilled cocktails while Kawn takes the stage with cool badass electronic postpunk.

Photo: Nicola Spaldin