There is no question that the field of solid state electronics, which essentially began with work at Bell laboratories just after World War II, has had a profound impact on today's Society. What is not nearly so widely known is that advances in the art and science of crystal growth underpin this technology. Single crystals, once valued only for their beauty, are now found, in one form or another in most electronic, optoelectronic and numerous optical devices. These devices, in turn, have permeated almost every home and village throughout the world. In fact it is hard to imagine what our...