About DGM

History of the DGM

The DGM was founded in Berlin on November 27, 1919, as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Metallkunde. Since 1989, it has been called the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde (German Society for Materials Science) and covers all materials.

Read the documentation (PDF, 12 MB, in German)

Participants of an excursion at the 2019 composites conference listen to a researcher in a test hall

1919

Between science and practice

When the society was founded, materials science and engineering were still in their infancy, especially for non-ferrous metals. From the start, the DGM saw itself as a scientific society in which many scientific and engineering disciplines were represented.

At the same time, it set out to build a "bridge between science and practice" and so also took on the tasks of a technical-scientific association. This dual role still shapes the DGM today. Its first chair was Emil Heyn, after whom the DGM's highest award is named.

Since 1919

Key dates

1919
founded in Berlin as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Metallkunde, on November 27
1966
first DGM Metallography Conference
1968
the DGM expert committee on metallography is founded, and the first Georg Sachs Prize is awarded
1978
today's subsidiary DGM-Inventum starts organizing conferences and training courses
1980s
with the rise of "new materials," the DGM extends its work to all technical materials
1989
renamed Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde
2019
100 years of the DGM, marked by a commemorative publication and a historical documentation
2023
first International Tammann Medal

100 years of the DGM: the documentation

For the anniversary, the DGM published "100 Jahre Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde 1919 bis 2019. Eine Dokumentation" (in German). It traces the society's joint work against the background of political and economic change, drawing mainly on board minutes and specialist journals. It pays particular attention to the expert committees, whose founding dates show which fields were seen as promising at the time, and it presents the DGM's award recipients in short biographies.

Cover of the documentation "100 Jahre Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde 1919 bis 2019"

Documentation "100 Jahre DGM"

PDF · 12 MB

Download PDF

Cover of the commemorative publication "100 Jahre DGM 1919–2019"

Commemorative publication 100 years of the DGM, 2019

PDF · 97 MB

Download PDF

The documentation in print

The documentation is also available as a book from Klartext Verlag, for €39.95 including VAT.

Order the book

1919

1966

1968

1978

1980s

1989

2019

2023

Documentation "100 Jahre DGM"

Commemorative publication 100 years of the DGM, 2019