The History of the Theory of Structures

Reviews / Votes

"The history of statics is statics itself", claims Karl-Eugen Kurrer, paraphrasing Goethe. In "Geschichte der Baustatik", based on a long series of specialized articles and more than two decades of study, Kurrer spreads a host of personalities and their interests before us, weaving them together into a thematic whole. Thought is, of course, inextricably bound to personality and education, and Kurrer demonstrates how engineering thought, far from being abstractly objective, is imbued with the character of the thinkers, their teachers, and their pupils. Personal experience conditions the definition of theoretical problems and their solutions, and this renders theoreticians human and their thoughts part of an ongoing professional discourse.

Prof. Dr. Tom F. Peters, Lehigh University, Betlehem/USA (Technology and Culture, Vol. 45, 2004)

The book is about much more than the origins of statics and its use in building and bridge engineering since the late sixteenth century. It is also about the very ideas of "statics" and "strength of materials" and how they came to be an integral part of the engineer's life; how they were developed into an academic discipline and a rigorous technique in engineering education; How they became the subject of growing numbers of technical books and periodicals, both for the academicians and the practitioners; and last, but not least, how the epistemology of the subject developed. Nowhere is the point of this book better demonstrated than in its title and, for non-German readers, how it should be rendered into English, or French or Spanish. "Baustatik" is not statics, or building statics; it is not structural engineering or strength of materials or structural science or analysis or design or calculation. It is a part of all these, and more. It is what united and binds a whole community of professionals together (...). Kurrer's excellent work makes for an interesting comparison with Antoine Picon's book "L'invention de l'Ingénieur Moderne" which charts the history and contribution of the "École des ponts et chausées" between 1747 and 1851.

Bill Addis PhD, Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, London (Construction History, Vol. 18, 2002)


Kurrer is the Chief Editor of the German journal "Stahlbau" (Steel Construction). His book is an important contribution to a subject on which little has been published so far.

Prof. Dr. H. J. Cowan, University of Sydney (Architectural Science Review, Vol. 46, 2003)

This "history of theory of structures" could only have been written by an expert, an engineer who knows the discipline inside out. This fully revised English edition, which explores international developments in greater depths, follows on from the highly successful German edition We should be very grateful to Dr. Kurrer, and also "his" publisher, Ernst & Sohn, for this treatise.
PROF. EKKEHARD RAMM, UNIV. OF STUTTGART

Erstmalig wird eine zusammenfassende Darstellung der Entwicklung von der klassischen Baustatik zur Strukturmechanik und "Computational Mechanics" im letzten Jahrhundert geboten.

Summary: This book offers fascinating insights into the emerge of theory of structures and structural analysis itself on various levels. ... So on the whole a cohorent picture of the development of theory of structures emerges. Recommendation: definitely worth reading!
HOLGER EGGEMANN, BRÜHL

Das vorliegende Werk ist weit mehr als ein Fachbuch zur Gesschichte einer technikwissenschaftlichen Disziplin. Es ist spannendste Ingenieurlektüre in einer heute selten gewordenen, gepflegten Sprache.
WILFRIED B. KRÄTZIG, BAUTECHNIK, HEFT 9/2008
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Das Buch ist ein wunderbares Werk, welches die Bedeutung der Geschichte im strukturellen Ingenieurbau unterstreicht. Es bildet ein Werk, das zum kurzen Nachlesen von statischen Verfahren und auch gleichzeitig zur Aneignung von Hintergrundwissen bezüglich der zugehörigen geschichtlichen Entwicklungen geeignet ist.
ALFRED STRAUSS, BETON- UND STAHLBETONBAU, HEF