Rustum Roy

Rustum Roy (July 3, 1924 – August 26, 2010) was a physicist, born in India, who became a professor at Pennsylvania State University and was a leader in materials research. As an advocate for interdisciplinarity, he initiated a movement of materials research societies and wrote about the need for a fusion of religion and science.

Later in life he held visiting professorships in materials science at Arizona State University, and in medicine at the University of Arizona.

Roy was born in Ranchi, Bihar Province, India, the son of Narenda Kumar and Rajkumari Roy.

Rustum studied physical chemistry at Patna University, gaining his bachelor's degree in 1942 and master's degree in 1944. The following year he began study at Pennsylvania State University and earned his Ph.D. in engineering ceramics in 1948.

Rustum Roy married Della Martin on June 8 that year.

In 1962 he was named the first director of the Materials Research Laboratory at Penn State. He edited the Proceedings of a 1968 Conference on the chemistry of silicon carbide. The next year a national colloquy was held on materials science in the United States for which Roy edited the Proceedings. In 1973 he edited the Proceedings of a conference on phase transitions and their applications.

In 1974 Roy and Olaf Müller published The Major Ternary Structural Families with Springer-Verlag, which described the principal crystal structures of ternary compounds. The book received two brief reviews in materials trade journals. A cement journal reviewer said it would be "Useful to the practicing materials researcher, whether in industry or university, as well as the non-specialist who needs to become informed about particular materials." A chemist writing for mineral processing readers, described its depth:

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