It has been almost 100 years since KINKEN, the Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University, was established, making it the oldest among the current six research institutes affiliated with Tohoku University. The institute is also unique because it was established back in those days with the cooperation of private companies, predicting the current trend of promoting cooperation among industry, academia, and government. The late Professor Kotaro Honda established the institute in 1916, for research on steel materials. Since then, the institute has continued to develop, expanding its research fields from steel materials to the overall field of metals, and then to non-metals. It has thus developed as a Center of Excellence (COE) for academic and applied research on materials, in which basic and applied research groups in science and engineering are arranged in a balanced manner. In 1987, the institute was reorganized into a national collaborative research institute affiliated with Tohoku University. Its name was also changed to the present one, the Institute for Materials Research. This means that it started to expand its research fields from metals to a wide range of other materials. Certified as a joint usage / research center for material science in 2009, the institute is thus now striving to establish a new framework and to promote the research and development of new materials.
  In the 20th century, along with the development of material science, new materials that served as key elements in material civilization were studied and developed in quick succession, bringing hitherto unforeseen convenience to human life. Our institute also made great contributions in materials science fields. For example, our early research into the physical metallurgy of iron-carbon alloys led to the development of a technique for manufacturing high-quality steel materials, which greatly contributed to the development of the steel industry in Japan. Furthermore, the study on iron magnetism resulted in the invention of the KS magnet, the world's strongest permanent magnet at that time, which dramatically improved the performance of electrical equipment. Our institute also succeeded in developing many practical materials, including special steels and materials for precision measuring instruments. On the other hand, the institute also put its efforts into basic research, aiming to explore cutting-edge applied research fields and the resultant practical applications. It lost no time in establishing high magnetic field and ultralow temperature technologies in Japan, and studied the magnetism and superconductivity of materials, thus making great academic contributions. The basic research reached the study of ultrafine structure of materials, electronic properties, and optical properties.
  This attitude of probing into new materials from a broader perspective with a view of practical science in mind has been the spirit of our institute since the time of Professor Kotaro Honda. These days, our institute has opened up new genres in terms of new materials, material analysis and analysis technology, and working process techniques, developing high performance, high quality, and multifunctional materials such as amorphous alloys with complex structures, bulk metallic glasses based on the amorphous alloys, multi-component intermetallic compounds, quasi-crystals, oxides, ceramics, structure controlled metals at a multi-scale (nano-to-micro) level, semiconductor materials, crystals for solar cells, fuel cell materials, hydrogen absorbing materials, nuclear materials, biomaterials, functional metallic glass materials, strongly correlated materials, spintronic materials, optical device materials, organic materials, and Si-shaped crystals. The recent creation of these materials proves that the spirit of the institute remains alive and thriving.
  In the 21st century, we fear that we will face serious problems of global warming and depletion of natural resources and energy sources on a global scale. Thus, to sustain human development and build an affluent society, it is strongly desired to continue our research and development on materials in view of how to protect and how to contribute to the health of the global environment. In response to these requirements, the institute also needs to promote the research on creating basic materials for the realization of a low-carbon society as well as to lead the world by advancing our strategic research on astounding and innovative material science that could bring about a paradigm shift. It is also strongly desired to foster young researchers capable of conducting these research and development activities. On the other hand, Japan's national universities have been incorporated since April 2004, as part of the project to promote university reform. Furthermore, Japan is also facing an immense political turning point. In this climate, we strongly need to create unique, internationally competitive universities with respect to independence and autonomy based on the characteristics as a seat of learning, and to enhanced administrative discretion. In this turning point not only in social situation, natural environment, and science, but also in how universities should be organized, our institute will further focus on research and educational activities based on the traditional sprit of KINKEN. Our institute will make efforts to lay the technological base of materials in order to establish a safe, secure, and affluent society for the future, thus continuously contributing to society. We ask for your continuous support and encouragement in the years to come.