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The International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics is active both in Theoretical Mechanics and in Applied Mechanics. Beyond these, however, it is concerned with that fruitful interaction between them which, increasingly, has constituted one of the great scientific success stories of the past 300 years.

About thirty years ago James Lighthill wrote an essay on “What is Mechanics?” With that he also included some examples of the applications of mechanics. While his emphasis was on fluid mechanics, his own research area, he also included examples from research activities in solid mechanics.

Since Sir James Lighthill wrote the above essay “What is Mechanics?” for the first edition of this book, fluid mechanics, like solid mechanics, has seen remarkably rapid growth and evolution.

Several authors have discussed the conflict, during and after the first world war, between the internationalist ideology of scientific knowledge and the political commitment of scientists, in particular with regard to the policy of the International Research Council and of its scientific unions. A case study is presented here of an international body which was born during the Twenties (when the polemic between scientists on opposite sides was at its peak) and quickly attained unpredicted success. Preceded by an informal gathering organized by T. von Karman and T. Levi-Civita in Innsbruck in 1922, the International Congress of Applied Mechanics, first held in Delft in 1924, was, at the end of the decade, much more of a live institution than many of the unions tied to the IRC.

Science knows no national boundaries. International contacts have always existed between scholars and scientists in various countries. The First World War interrupted much of this fabric. It took time for bitterness and distrust to disperse. Gradually the wounds were healing. The successful International Congresses of Applied Mechanics, arranged at four year intervals, had established a tradition to be followed in years ahead. At the 5th Congress, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1938, it was decided to hold the next congress in Paris in 1942.

A first report on the activities of IUTAM, the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, covering the first forty years of the Union from 1946 to 1986 was composed by J. Hult and N.J. Hoff, and incorporated in the first edition of this book edited by S. Juhasz. This update of IUTAM’s history edited by P. Eberhard is devoted to the next thirty years from 1988 to 2016 including the turn of the century. In the following, the developments are described which came up during that period.

During the past ninety-three years, one “initiating conference” and twenty-four international congresses—first under the name Applied Mechanics and later under the name Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ICTAM) were held at about four-year intervals on four continents and in nineteen countries. The participants were primarily from academia, but there was always industrial support and some industrial participation. The number of countries represented by participants increased from seven in 1922 to fifty-seven in 2012. During the past ninety-three years, some 10,150 presentations were made in a multitude of formats. There were keynote and general lectures, “conversaziones” (research exhibits with refreshments), contributed papers, poster sessions, etc. Comparing the 1924 and 2012 Congresses, the number of participants increased more than sixfold and the number of papers presented nearly 22-fold. This does not give the full picture. Both participants and papers fluctuated greatly. The congress with the maximum number of participants was not the one with the maximum number of papers. The unusual 11-fold increase in participants (2250) at Moscow was due to the large size of the host country, intensive research activity, and consequently extraordinary number of local registrants. The number of participants from non-host countries varied between 440 and 1321 during the last 15 congresses. The total number of registrations was around 20,000 (number of individuals fewer because of repeated participations). The large increase of papers at Bruxelles (511) was due to a relaxed acceptance policy for contributed papers. Altogether up to the year 2008 thirty-eight volumes of proceedings have been published with a grand total of 16,748 pages and combined shelf length of over one meter, see the photos. The Beijing Congress 2012 was the first one where the papers were published only electronically as an e-book in the Procedia IUTAM series.

Between 1949 and 1985 a total of 139 symposia were held in 91 cities in 25 countries. The frequency increased from one per year to about eight per year. From 1986 to 2015 239 symposia were held in 135 cities and 37 countries. This means that 1949 to 2015 in total the impressive number of 378 symposia were held in 41 counties. The total number of registrants was about 29,000. The lowest number of registrants was 23 and the highest 239. The greatest number of countries represented at a symposium was 27.

The General Assembly of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics has met every other year since the founding of the Union in 1946. Every second General Assembly has been held in conjunction with the International Congress which is attended by almost all members. The intermediate meetings have been held by invitation at a reasonably convenient and interesting location. Of the 36 meetings listed in the appendix, 7 were held in countries that hosted one each. The remaining 29 took place in 10 other countries.

The IUTAM Reports were issued annually with one exception. There was a combined three-year report for the years 1954–55–56.