We are all familiar with elastic bands and other soft, rubbery materials, but familiarity should not diminish our surprise at their properties. What other solids can be stretched many times their original length without breaking, then returned perfectly to their original shape?
The theoretical physicist Mark Warner, who has died aged 69 of cancer, not only explained the behaviour of existing soft materials but also predicted the existence and properties of entirely new classes of them – not just once but several times. He imagined the consequences of combining the long, chainlike molecules that make up “elastomers”, such as rubber, with the smaller, rodlike molecules that are found in all liquid-crystal displays, for example on smartphones.
