This unique exhibit, prepared as part of the Centennial celebration of theAmerican Ceramic Society, explores the many roles of ceramic materials in our modern world,from beautiful and delicate works of art to medical miracles to the tiles that protect the SpaceShuttle. The Salt Lake City visit is one stop on a year long tour of museums across the UnitedStates. The exhibit has already been to the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, the Science Museumin Atlanta, and the University of California science library in Irvine and will go to Washington D.C. after it leaves Utah.
Many people think of ceramics only as pottery, dishes, bathroom sinks, or decorative tiles.
Theseare important uses, but there are an enormous number of other uses that make ceramics such andimportant part of our lives that we cannot do without them. The objective of The Magic ofCeramics exhibit is to introduce the general public, and especially school students, to some ofthese important and often fascinating uses of ceramics. The display includes more than 200ceramic items that show how ceramics are used in fiberoptic communications, in reducingpollution and conserving energy, in making the silicon chip and miniature computers possible, inour automobiles, in medical technology, and even in sports. In line with the goal of educationaloutreach, the display is supplemented by guided tours, open houses and lectures, video tapes, anddemonstrations of ceramic superconductors levitating a magnet, of the ultra high temperatureresistance of ceramics, of ceramic magnets, and of other examples of magical behavior. One of the mostamazing uses is the treatment of liver cancer.