William J. Buehler

William J. Buehler was an American metallurgist and engineer, born in Detroit on 25 October 1923, who is remembered as the discoverer of nitinol, the nickel-titanium shape-memory alloy. He earned a bachelor degree in chemical engineering from Michigan State in December 1944 and later a master degree in metallurgical engineering there. The Naval Ordnance Laboratory hired him as a mechanical engineer in June 1951, and by July 1956 he was its supervisory physical metallurgist. His work on nickel-titanium alloys, begun while looking for tough materials for naval ordnance, led to an alloy that returns to a remembered shape when heated. He named it nitinol, from the chemical symbols of its two metals and the initials of the laboratory. He left the laboratory in 1974 to join the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. His alloy later found use in medical devices, couplings and many other products.