W. David Kingery

William David Kingery (July 27, 1926 – June 30, 2000) was an American material scientist who developed systematic methods for the study of ceramics. For his work, he was awarded the Kyoto Prize in 1999.

Life Kingery was born on July 27, 1926, in White Plains, New York, one of four children. His father was a doctor in private practice. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he majored in inorganic chemistry, receiving his BSc in 1948. In 1951, he became a member of the faculty at MIT. He wrote a series of books on ceramics, culminating in Introduction to Ceramics, a book that became the "founding treatise" for ceramics.

Kingery became a full professor in 1962. In 1987 he left MIT for Johns Hopkins University, and in 1988 joined the University of Arizona as Professor of Anthropology and Materials Science. In the departments of Anthropology and Materials Science and Engineering, he established an interdisciplinary program in Culture, Science and Technology. Among the students he advised was W. Patrick McCray (Ph.D., 1996) who is now a professor of the history of science and technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Kingery and his wife renovated an 18th-century cottage in Rhode Island, which they used as a summer home. An active ocean sailor, he made a single-handed voyage to Bermuda in 1975, and subsequently organized the Marion-Bermuda Yacht Race, an event that has occurred every two years since 1977. He also sailed across the Atlantic for a sabbatical in France and across the Pacific to Tahiti and to the Marquesas Islands, the site of Herman Melville's book Typee. Other interests included horse riding and flying a Piper aircraft. In 1983 he became a Distinguished Life Member of the society. In 1984 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In the citation for the prize, he was called the "father of modern ceramics".

Works Articles Kingery published over 200 articles and his work was cited over 7500 times.

Books