Continuum mechanics through the ages -- from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. From hydraulics to plasticity (Q896719)

The book presents a historical review of some aspects of the developments of continuum mechanics and is written by an author renowned for his scholarly books and numerous papers. The aim of the book is to complete the author's previously published two volumes [Continuum mechanics through the twentieth century. A concise historical perspective. Dordrecht: Springer (2013; Zbl 1277.82007); Continuum mechanics through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Historical perspectives from John Bernoulli (1727) to Ernst Hellinger (1914). Cham: Springer (2014; Zbl 1303.74003)]. The three volumes comprise a generous conspectus of the development of continuum mechanics between the sixteenth century and the dawn of the twenty-first century. The present volume consists of eleven chapters with references, a gallery of portraits of selected scientists, an epilogue chapter and a subject index. The chapters are detailed below. Chapter 1 (pp.\ 1--25): ``Particles/molecules versus continuum: the never-ending debate'', is devoted to a good appraisal of the ever enduring competition between the molecular approach and direct continuum modeling views. Chapter 2 (pp.\ 27--56): ``Hydraulics: the importance of observations and experiments'', places the emphasis on experiments that have been decisive in the perused evolution of continuum mechanics, from ancient times to the nineteenth century. Chapter 3 (pp.\ 57--79): ``On porous media and mixtures'', describes some historical developments including the rational theory of mixtures after the pioneering works of Darcy and Poiseuille. Chapter 4 (pp.\ 81--105): ``Viscosity, fast flows and the science of flight'', pays attention to the developments of the effects of viscosity, increasing levels of velocity of the fluid flows and the inception of the mechanics of vortices. Chapter 5 (pp.\ 107--127): ``Duhem on hydrodynamics and elasticity'' and Chapter 6 (pp.\ 129--155): ``Poincaré and Hilbert on continuum mechanics'', appraise the contributions of these most creative researchers to the classical domains of continuum mechanics. Chapter 7 (pp.\ 157--176): ``Viscoelasticity of solids (old and new)'' purports at exposing the way various theories evolved in the self-evolving general background of continuum mechanics. Chapter 8 (pp.\ 177--214): ``Plasticity over 150 years (1864--2014) examines the development of the subject with special attention to Duhem's overlooked works. Chapter 9 (pp.\ 215--242): ``Fracture: to crack or not to crack. That is the question'', considers the expansion of the theory of fracture with an emphasis on the noticeable inventive and landmark contributions. Chapter 10 (pp.\ 243--261): ``Geometry and continuum mechanics: an essay'', emphasizes the notions of differential geometry that are hidden in the bases of classical continuum mechanics, and then examines the development of the intervening of more modern and sophisticated notions. Chapter 11 (pp.\ 263--297): ``The masters of modern continuum mechanics'', presents the works of the main contributors of the subject in the period 1935--1980 and their students and direct co-workers. Finally, there is Chapter 12 (pp.\ 299--302): ``Epilogue''. Overall, the book, from a distinctly different viewpoint than usual, offers a clear and lucid account of the developments of continuum mechanics, and it is expected to be followed by another volume which may be addressed to the developments of experimental results needed before the modeling of certain materials, low-dimensional modeling (bars, shells) and especially coupled thermal, electrical and alike effects. Moreover, the development of continuum mechanics of quasicrystals, which is an experimentally discovered third form of solid matter beside amorphous and crystalline materials, requires special attention. The book is highly recommendable, preferably in orderly reading of all the three volumes, to interested readers among mechanical engineers, applied mathematicians and physicists.