A discussion-meeting on "New Materials" was organized on October 24-26, 1991 by the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, under the sponsorship of the Indian National Science Academy, Japan Society for Promotion of Science, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Materials Research Society of India. A number of distinguished scientists from India and Japan presented state-of-the-art lectures on important aspects of materials science and technology. Today we are witnessing an unprecedented advance in the science and technology of materials, occurring at a rapid pace. The main objective of the meeting was to bring active scientists in this area from Japan and India together, to exchange ideas and share the excitement of this field. For this pmpose, a number of young workers were also invited to participate in the meeting. It was our view that a publication based on these lectures would be of great value. The topics covered in the meetingwere diverse and included many aspects of modern materials.