Extract
" A recent science, born just a few decades ago, solid state chemistry is in fact part of a thousand-year-old tradition. As Jean Rouxel points out, it is undoubtedly the potter's gesture that best expresses the continuity that links this discipline to the origins of civilizations. "By giving shape to his paste and firing it according to almost unchanging processes, the potter practices a highly complex chemistry of solids that transforms a vulgar clay into an object endowed with properties of use". "
