Contributions of the embedded-atom method to materials science and engineering

Many-body potentials were introduced in the early 1980s and have become a workhorse for the simulation of materials, especially metallic systems. The physical motivations for the main classes of the various many-body potentials are summarized, and the advantages of this approach are discussed. Some current examples related to grain growth, stress generation in thin films, shock loading, and nanowire deformation are presented to illustrate the continuing value of these approaches. Finally, some of the approaches that have been introduced in subsequent years are briefly described.