The International Union for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) is an affiliation of about 500

mechanician A mechanician is an engineer or a scientist working in the field of mechanics, or in a related or sub-field: engineering or computational mechanics, applied mechanics, geomechanics, biomechanics, and mechanics of materials. Names other than mecha ...

s in about 50 countries, and involving about 20 associated organizations, including the International Council for Science (ICSU). The proceedings of symposia organized by IUTAM are published as ''Procedia IUTAM''.Procedia IUTAM
from

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as '' The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', ...

The IUTAM was organized in 1946 at the sixth International Congress of Applied Mechanics in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. The ICAM first met in 1924 at Delft,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, under the guidance of

Jan Burgers Johannes (Jan) Martinus Burgers (January 13, 1895 – June 7, 1981) was a Dutch physicist and the brother of the physicist Wilhelm G. Burgers. Burgers studied in Leiden under Paul Ehrenfest, where he obtained his PhD in 1918. He is credited to ...

, with 214 participants from 21 countries.Michael Eckert (2006) ''The Dawn of Fluid Dynamics'', page 99,

Wiley-VCH Wiley-VCH is a German publisher owned by John Wiley & Sons. It was founded in 1921 as Verlag Chemie (meaning "Chemistry Press": VCH stands for ''Verlag Chemie'') by two German learned societies. Later, it was merged into the German Chemical Soci ...

:The Delft congress was the first in a series of International Congresses of Applied Mechanics. The second was held in 1926 in Zurich. Afterwards these congresses were convened in four-year intervals: 1930 in Stockholm, 1934 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, England, 1938 in

, USA. After the Second World War the tradition of these conferences was resumed under the umbrella of an official organization, the International Union for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM). The spirit of international cooperation was initiated by

Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...

and

Josephine de Karman Josephine (Pipö) de Karman was the sister and life-partner of Theodore von Kármán. She is remembered as the benefactor of a foundation for worthy art students. Born in Budapest, Josephine was the younger sister of four brothers: Elemer, Feri, ...

, natives of Hungary that worked in Germany before going to

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. In fact, the "zeroth" International Congress of Mechanics was organized for 1922 to discuss hydrodynamics and

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dy ...

: :I managed to get together with Dr.

Tullio Levi-Civita Tullio Levi-Civita, (, ; 29 March 1873 – 29 December 1941) was an Italian mathematician, most famous for his work on absolute differential calculus (tensor calculus) and its applications to the theory of relativity, but who also made signific ...

, a distinguished mathematician from the University of Rome, and we decided to call the first international conference on

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to object ...

. We issued invitations to the French, British and Americans to meet with their former enemies, the Germans, Austrians and Hungarians, in Innsbruck,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. My sister and I paid the secretarial expenses out of our own pocket.

Theodore von Karman Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatche ...

with Lee Edson (1967) ''The Wind and Beyond'',

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

Revival of internationalism after Hitler was described as follows: : n 1946we revived the International Congress of Applied Mechanics, which I had helped to create after World War I and which served as a forum for my scientific contest with

Prandtl Ludwig Prandtl (4 February 1875 – 15 August 1953) was a German fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlying the science of ...

. In 1938, when the members voted to suspend further meetings, we also voted that if world conditions ever changed for the better, we would hold the next meeting in Paris. So eight years and a world war later we kept our word. The meeting was a great success in bringing together representatives of all nations. It was here that we formalized the congress into the International Union for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM). IUTAM awards the Batchelor Prize for outstanding research in fluid dynamics every four years at the ICTAM conference. Named in honour of

George Batchelor George Keith Batchelor FRS (8 March 1920 – 30 March 2000) was an Australian applied mathematician and fluid dynamicist. He was for many years a Professor of Applied Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, and was founding head of the ...

, the Australian applied mathematician and fluid dynamicist, the prize has a value of $25,000.

References

* Fons Alkemade (2010
Some of IUTAM's History
from IUTAM.

External links

* {{Authority control Members of the International Council for Science Scientific organizations established in 1922 International scientific organizations Mechanical engineering organizations Members of the International Science Council