Ceramics are one of the oldest materials known to man, and at the same time one of the most modern. Prehistoric man figured out how to make ceramics and they have been in continuous use ever since. Even to day we are constantly finding new uses for ceramic materials and our high tech world depends on them. A lot of people automatically think of tiles and pottery when they hear the word ceramics but they are also used in computers and spacecraft. Ceramics truly are on the cutting edge.
The first ceramics were produced by prehistoric man about twenty five thousand years ago, when they started to produce figurines for ceremonial purposes. Ancient man discovered that they could make ceramic objects by mixing clay and water and firing it in a kiln that was basically just a hole in ground. Eventually prehistoric man found practical uses for ceramics and started to create pots for storing food and water. Around the same time they started to create tiles and clay bricks to be used in the construction of shelters.
The Egyptians were the first to create purpose built kilns that could be heated to much higher temperatures the old way of firing in a hole that prehistoric people had used. This allowed them to put a glaze onto the pottery, which meant that they could add colour. This is when ceramics really started to become an art form and not just a practical tool. As part of putting a glaze on their pottery they Egyptians were also the first to learn how to make glass, although it would be many centuries before they started to produce glass for it's own purposes and not just as a by product of glazing.
There were few new developments in the field of ceramics for many centuries after the Egyptians. The ancient Greeks, Romans and Chinese all used ceramics extensively for pottery and construction materials but didn't make any real progress in the technology. Although they did make some beautiful ceramic art. The next real breakthrough came in middle ages when refractories made of synthetic materials allowed ceramics to be fired at much higher temperatures. This allowed for a much better quality of ceramic and allowed to be used for a number of new purposes.
Ceramic research really took off in the twentieth century as a whole range of new uses were found in all kinds of purposes. Ceramics are used in everything from electrical components to cars to the aerospace industry. The computer industry depends on ceramics for the production of semiconductors. There is in fact a whole field of engineering dedicated to ceramics, despite being one of the oldest materials known to man it is also on the cutting edge of new technology.