Welcome

From 6–8 January 2010 OxMOS (New Frontiers in the Mathematics of Solids) and OCCAM (Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics) will hold a joint meeting on New Developments in Elasticity. The meeting is intended as a celebration of the legacy of Robert Hooke, who proposed his famous linear law for elastic materials to the Royal Society in 1678. Our understanding of elasticity has improved greatly since those days, and the modern theory of elasticity incorporates nonlinearity within a dynamic theory. The mathematical understanding of the theory — together with its scientific applications in engineering sciences, physical sciences and life sciences — are in a period of rapid development, and this meeting will survey these developments and challenges for the future.

Four broad themes will be covered:

Mathematical developments in elasticity
Elasticity in the engineering sciences
Elasticity in the physical sciences
Elasticity in the life sciences

Speakers include:

David Abrahams (Manchester)
Martine Ben Amar (Ecole Normale Supérieure)
Mary Boyce (MIT)
Gilles Francfort (Paris)
Richard James (Minnesota)
Nadia Lapusta (Caltech)
John Maddocks (EPFL, Lausanne)
Stefan Müller (Bonn)
Christoph Ortner (Oxford)
Ares Rosakis (Caltech)
Hanus Seiner (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Eran Sharon (Hebrew University)
Lev Truskinovsky (Ecole Polytechnique)

Additionally, the meeting will include a round-table discussion with several eminent speakers, “Milestones and Challenges in Elasticity”, followed by an open discussion. Contributors to the discussion include:

Stuart Antman (Maryland)
John Hutchinson (Harvard)
John Willis (Cambridge)

A PDF poster for the event is also available.