This year marks the 70th anniversary of our journal Materiales de Construcción. It is with great pride and immense satisfaction that we as part of the direction of the Eduardo Torroja Institute for Construction Science have seized the opportunity to add a few words to this special commemorative issue.
One of the features of the journal that we find most admirable is its flair in all this time for remaining as fresh and forward-looking as at the outset. It has kept abreast of industry developments and needs with its strong technological leanings, clearly aligned with what society demands. At the same time, it stands out for the rigour of its science, as attested to by its listing and high impact factor in JRC. Its high national and international repute is attributable in particular to the merits of the people who have charted its course as editors-in-chief and the consistent excellence of all its editorial boards and advisory councils. Over seven decades they have wrought and moulded the journal’s essential dimension, based on scientific and technological progress in construction materials for both buildings and civil works. We cannot overemphasise the journal’s indebtedness for its success to the people at the helm and their unequalled human and professional stature. We would except not a single one, from Eduardo Torroja or Pablo García de Paredes to Francisca Puertas, present Honorary Editor, a much-deserved distinction, or Mar Alonso, who pilots the periodical today.
Allow us to underscore the contemporaneity between the journal’s inception and the seed of what today is the Eduardo Torroja Institute for Construction Science. In 1935 Eduardo Torroja and Jose María Aguirre founded the Institute for Construction and Building as a private initiative, which in 1946 adhered to the National Research Council, CSIC, as part of the Juan de la Cierva Trust. In 1949 it merged with the Cement Institute to become the Technical Institute for Construction and Cement. That additional thrust, along with the 1951 initiation of the works on its present headquarters, defined a space characterised not only by time but also by the spirit of progress in and dissemination of construction materials research. Eduardo Torroja advocated for and staunchly defended the use of books, monographs, specification sheets, newsletters on standards, manuals and similar publications to provide the construction industry with the information it needed in terms of the new developments fathered by research, along with guidelines for training technicians in different fields. Significantly, Materiales de Construcción was first titled Últimos Avances en Materiales de Construcción [latest developments in construction materials]. Particularly enlightening in that regard is the definition of the journal’s raison d’être as set out in its first issue: ‘The Institute for Construction and Cement Engineering is issuing a new publication with a limited circulation to ensure the speedy conveyance of information on construction materials. The present document, entitled Nuevos Avances, is an example of what is to come. These newsletters, which will be issued periodically, will summarise any information of interest published in the technical press anywhere in the world…’. Given the need for ongoing progress and for news on the latest developments in both basic scientific and technological research, in the nineteen fifties the journal constituted the avant-garde of dissemination of contemporary technical innovation.
The spirit of our Institute, shared with our journals, is concisely summarised in its motto, which we have the pleasure of reading daily when entering the Institute or attending a conference in our legendary Torroja hall:
‘Technicae Plures, Opera Unica’. The value we place on multi-disciplinarity underlies and drives all our research. That same spirit is mirrored in each and every issue released by Materiales de Construcción and has been a significant force behind the industry’s technological progress.
We would also like to draw attention to the wisdom that has informed the choice of subject for this special issue. This tribute to the journal inter-relates developments in the many lines of research presently being pursued by the Institute’s researchers, a fine example of the symbiosis that has always existed between Materiales de Construccion and the IETcc.
We can hardly conclude without expressing our gratitude to all those who have contributed to making Materiales de Construcción such a highly reputed journal and a source of pride for all of us who work out of the Eduardo Torroja Institute for Construction Science. We feel especially obliged to those no longer with us for their indispensable contribution to today’s success. THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS Materiales de Construcción.