High pressures: Recent trends in materials science

Pressure was developed during the 20th century. The most important illustration of the use of high pressure in Materials Science was the synthesis of diamond at the beginning of the fifties. This contribution will describe the main scientific research axis developed these last years and based on high pressure (synthesis of new materials, stabilization of specific structures, crystal-growth, preparation of finely divided materials...). In parallel some industrial developments will be analyzed. In conclusion, the potential of high pressure will be sketched for the near future.