Early example of an interdisciplinary approach in industry: Harold F. Winters's contributions

Harold F. Winters’s contributions in examining early example of an interdisciplinary approach in industry are discussed. Harold was one of the key pioneers who brought rigorous surface science approaches to bear on a variety of phenomena related to plasma-surface interactions encountered in contemporary plasma technologies such as physical and reactive thin film sputtering, reactive ion etching (RIE), ion implantation, and gas gettering but also in diverse areas such as the design of thermonuclear reactors and estimation of drag on spacecraft. H.F.W.’s former background was especially useful to the need to understand physical and chemical surface sorption phenomena in the presence of various forms of energetic incident irradiation.