The magic of plutonium:: 5f electrons and phase instability

This article was presented at a symposium held in honor of Terence E. (Terry) Mitchell for his many contributions to materials science. Terry Mitchell has explored the magic of materials during his distinguished 40-plus year career, always going back to the fundamentals to understand the behavior of complex materials. He has covered a wide range of materials from metals and alloys, to ceramics, intermetallics, strained-layer superlattices, high-temperature superconductors, and nanostructured materials. In this tribute to the remarkable contributions of Terry Mitchell to the materials field, I will cover the magical world of plutonium-one of the few materials that has escaped his scrutiny to date.