Encyclopedia of Glass Science, Technology, History, and Culture. Группа авторов

      When art meets glassmaking: the visit of the Duchess of Berry (1798–1870) in 1824 to the plate‐glass factory of the Royal Manufacture of Saint‐Gobain as depicted by Édouard Pingret (1788–1869). The stifling heat, the noise of the furnaces, and the danger for the workers of the molten glass poured from the pot and spread with the steel roller on the large table (Chapter 10.9) have all vanished. Only the theatrical aspect of the scene remains, highlighted by the tall curtain, the duchess’s light‐colored dress echoing the worker’s white smocks, and the children watching the show from the balcony. Source: Photo courtesy Saint‐Gobain Archives.

      The Encyclopedia has been designed to satisfy the needs and curiosity of a broad audience interested in the nature, properties, fabrication, and history of glass and looking for consistent, comprehensive, and up‐to‐date information in a single book. More than 100 chapters involving even more glass experts have been written in a perspective that combines the various aspects of this unique material, be they scientific, technological, industrial, historical, or cultural. Whether coming from academia or industry, the authors have in common a long practice of glass. Their goal is to be informative without being pedantic, to be concrete without being boring, and to give a balanced overview of the field – in a word, to allow a large readership to understand both the amazing properties of the vitreous state and its pecularities compared with those of other states of matter. Excluding the so‐called spin glasses and other kinds of disordered physical systems, the Encyclopedia restricts itself to what is now termed structural glass.

      In all chapters, the authors discuss glass from a materials‐science standpoint, but their purpose is not to review in any detail the latest advances of interest to specialists only. Rather, in the form of scholarly introductions, it is to present every topic at a uniform level and in a self‐consistent manner. In this way, the main points will be grasped and key information of fundamental or practical use will be made available. The neophyte reader will then be able to consult the specialized literature and, in particular, the select bibliography appended to each chapter.

      This approach does not imply that only elementary features are presented, but that concepts are appropriately introduced and any technical information clearly explained so as to avoid the common defect underlined in 1911 by the astronomer Percival Lowell (1855–1916) who emphasized in Mars and its Canals that “nothing in any branch of science is so little known as its articulation, — how the skeleton of it is put together, and what may be the mode of attachment of its muscles.” Whereas a very few chapters give a flavor of current technicalities involved in glass research, newly investigated topics are also considered with the goal of ensuring that the Encyclopedia remains a useful reference over an extended period of time. Although those views that are at this moment very speculative are generally not discussed at length, they may be stated in the final Perspectives of the chapters.

      Given the diversity of topics treated, the name of Encyclopedia (Kuklos paideia, cycle of enlightenments, in Greek) is particularly appropriate. The surprising fact is that such a reference work was not existing at all for glass, in general, even though more than hundreds of thousands of encyclopedias have now been devoted to any topic worth of attention, including glass art in particular. The Encyclopedia consists of 10 sections preceded by a general introduction and concluded by a postface. It begins with glassmaking and continues with structural, physical, and chemical properties. The stage is then set to turn to issues pertaining to light, to the main inorganic glass families, to organically related glasses, to environmental and other industrial issues, and, finally, to the main facets of the rich glass history. Even in more than 100 chapters, it has not been possible to deal with every important topic relevant to glass. A few more chapters would have been welcomed, but their advantages would not have outweighted the inconvenience of a longer publication time, especially for the Encyclopedia contributors.

Each section is preceded by a short introduction summarizing in a few sentences the contents of its chapters for helping readers to decide which ones fit their own interest best. Another purpose of these introductions is to show that, from the first to the last, the chapters are telling a consistent story. Although efforts have been made to avoid overlap, some limited duplication was inevitable to make sure that most contributions could be read independently of the others. Of course, boundaries between chapters or sections are not always clear‐cut, so that some arbitrariness has been involved in their delineation. And whereas the scientific and technology contents of the chapters will probably speak for themselves, it might be useful to note that historical aspects are dealt with not only in the last section but also elsewhere each time they can help to open deeper perspectives. As for the Culture included in the title of the Encyclopedia, it is explicitly treated only in the very last chapter but pervades a great many others, for example, in the history section where beautiful pieces of art are in particular reproduced.

      At the end of this endeavor, it is now a pleasure to acknowledge (i) the encouragement initially provided by R. Conradt, N.G. Greaves, J. Livage, J. Lucas, B. Mysen, A. Takada, and Y. Yue when the project took shape; (ii) the warm welcome this project received through G. Geiger and A. Lekhwani when submitted to the American Ceramic Society and John Wiley & Sons; (iii) the invaluable help then brought all the way by Reinhard Conradt and Akira Takada through their constant advice, support, friendship, and careful reviewing work; (iv) the great many graphics and pictures neatly prepared by Joël Dyon to highlight the matter presented in numerous chapters; (v) the efforts of 151 authors working in 23 countries who participated in this ambitious endeavor