«Why isn't wood weaker that it is? Why isn't steel stronger? Why does glass sometimes shatter and sometimes bend like spring? Why do ships break in half? What is a liquid and is treacle one? All these are questions about the nature of materials. All of them are vital to engineers but also fascinating as scientific problems. During the 250 years up to the 1920s and 1930s they had been answered largely by seeing how materials behaved in practice. But materials continued to do things that they «ought» not to have done. Only in the last 40 years have these questions begun to be answered by a new approach. Material scientists have started to look more deeply into the make-up of materials. They have found many surprises; above all, perhaps, that how a material behaves depends on how perfectly — or imperfectly — its atoms are arranged. Using both SI and imperial units, Professor Gordon's account of material science is a demonstration of the sometimes curious and entertaining ways in which scientists isolate and solve problems.»

The Yakovlev design bureau started life in 1927 when Aleksandr Sergeyevich Yakovlev (1894-1977) brought out his first aircraft, the two-seat AIR-1. The first nine designs created by Yakovlev remained in prototype form, being developed largely at his own initiative; in 1935, however, his fortune changed when the UT-2 primary trainer entered large-scale production. In the immediate pre-war years and during World War Two the Yakovlev OKB proved quite versatile, developing such varied aircraft as the Yak-4 light bomber of 1939, the Yak-6 light transport and the Yak-1 fighter of 1940. The latter was the progenitor of a highly successful series of fighters including the Yak-7, Yak-9 and Yak-3. After the war, diversity continued. For a while, fighters were still strongly on the agenda; the Yak-15 first flew on 24th April 1946, the same day as the MiG-9, and evolved into the Yak-17 and Yak-23 featuring the same 'pod-and-boom' layout. The twinengined Yak-25 interceptor was brought out in 1952, again becoming the first in a line of twinjet tactical aircraft — mostly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Civil aircraft development also continued on a large scale, the OKB developing such successful aircraft as the Yak-18 trainer/aerobatic aircraft family, the Yak-40 feederliner (1966) and the Yak-42 short/medium-haul airliner (1974). The company even tried its hand at helicopters: the tandem-rotor Yak-24 was brought out in 1952, entering small-scale production in 1955. Though overshadowed as a 'fighter maker' by Mikoyan and Sukhoi, the Yakovlev OKB did not give up. The Yak-38 VTOL attack aircraft first flew in 1970, entering service with the Soviet Navy in 1976. A major success was achieved in 2002 when the Yak-130, the company's latest trainer, was selected by the Russian Air Force.