Haifa is a beautiful city, the third largest in Israel, on hills overlooking the Eastern Mediterranean (the “jewel of Mount Carmel”); it proved to be an excellent venue. The conference was held in the Technion – the Israel Institute of Technology – and papers were presented in two parallel sessions which came together occasionally as a single joint session. No one appeared to be inconvenienced by the absence of simultaneous translation facilities. There was an exhibition of equipment and instrumentation, and a nearby swimming pool for relaxation when the temperature peaked. The Mayor of Haifa provided a civic reception for delegates. The hosts succeeded in all respects in making the conference memorable and enjoyable, and delegates were grateful for the opportunity to savour something of the present and past of this fascinating corner of the world.
The proceedings volume [7] contained 57 papers, some, unfortunately, only in summary form. Not all the papers listed in the programme were included. The following comments relate to the contents of the proceedings volume. There were authors from 18 countries, principal contributors being USA (10), Germany (9), France (7), UK (7) and Israel (5). The only Eastern European countries represented were Poland (3), Roumania (1) and Yugoslavia (1), but the organisers would no doubt have been pleased to have papers from Argentina (2), India (2) and Taiwan (2). There was also a paper from Ireland, not, at that time, a PCSA member.
Photoelasticity remained a major topic with papers describing novel applications and technical innovations, including the use of digital image analysis procedures, but there were only three papers with a significant numerical content in the form of finite element analysis. Biomechanics had returned as a substantial theme with seven papers on a range of relevant topics. Optical methods (including holographic interferometry, speckle analysis and caustics studies) and moiré work were well represented; there was a particularly useful paper on moiré interferometry by Professor Dan Post. Residual stress studies included two contributions on the accuracy of the hole-drilling method. The fracture mechanics topic was well covered and there were several interesting papers on composite materials. A paper on thermoelastic stress analysis, a topic introduced in Munich, described the prototype of what was to become a major innovation in applied stress analysis.