Mechanics IUTAM USNC/TAM - A History of People, Events, and Communities

This book provides a detailed history of the United States National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNC/TAM) of the US National Academies, the relationship between the USNC/TAM and IUTAM, and a review of the many mechanicians who developed the field over time. It emphasizes the birth and growth of USNC/TAM, the birth and growth of the larger International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), and explores the work of mechanics from Aristotle to the present. Written by the former Secretary of USNC/TAM, Dr. Carl T. Herakovich of the University of Virginia, the book profiles luminaries of mechanics including Galileo, Newton, Bernoulli, Euler, Cauchy, Prandtl, Einstein, von Kármán, Timoshenko, and in so doing provides insight into centuries of scientific and technologic advance.

Dr. Carl T. Herakovich, Professor Emeritus, was until 1998 Henry L. Kinnier Professor in Civil Engineering, and Director of the Applied Mechanics Program in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, at the University of Virginia. He served as the Secretary of the USNC/TAM from 2000 to 2012. His many awards include Fellow of SES; 2005, ASME Applied Mechanics Division Award (now the Ted Belytschko Award); 2001-04, ASME Vice-President Basic Engineering; 1996,  Fellow ASME; 1992, Fellow AAM; 1987, Fellow ASCE; 1986, Frank J. Maher Outstanding Educator Award (Virginia Tech, ESM Department); Indiana Football Hall of Fame (1985); leading collegiate football scorer in the nation 1958 (168 points in 8 games); Lambda Chi Alpha Hall of Fame (1996). Professor Herakovich was also an Atlantic Coast Conference Football Official for twenty years (1972-91) officiating 10 bowl games.