GLASSES A MATERIAL OF YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

Abstract

Glasses play a fundamental role in our daily lives, both economically, culturally, socially, energetically and geologically. Geological glasses bear witness to the Earth's igneous activity and represent an important source of tools and ornamental objects from the Paleolithic to the present day. Today, glasses are also used to manufacture technical materials, such as containers (dishes, drinking glasses, jars, carafes, etc.), screens (television, computer, smartphone, etc.), fibers with multiple applications (reinforcement, information transport, energy, health, etc.), to ensure the storage of domestic or nuclear waste and, more recently, biomaterials (dental or bone implants, etc.). Consequently, silica-based glasses are at the heart of the history of the Earth and humanity