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Kurt Magnus (1912–2003) is one of the personalities who shaped research and teaching in applied mechanics during the 20th century. Through his work with his doctoral supervisor Max Schuler at the University of Göttingen, gyrodynamics became his most important field of work, which also led to his research in oscillations, multi‐body systems, and mechatronics. Magnus made significant contributions in all these fields. He was regarded as a gifted lecturer, and the close connection between scientific research and practical application was important to him. Life and scientific work of Kurt Magnus were, however, also characterized by his 7‐year deportation to the USSR in 1946. Despite this fate, he was able to continue his research under certain restrictions during this time. After returning to Germany, he became Professor of Mechanics at the University of Stuttgart in 1958. His appointment coincided with the gradual resumption of industrial activities in Germany in the field of gyro technology—activities that had come to a standstill at the end of World War II. In the years that followed, Magnus' institute became the scientific center for gyrodynamics in Germany. The activities of that time are reflected in a preserved collection of gyro instruments for research and teaching as well as in the co‐founding of an annual international conference on inertial technology, which continues to this day. Magnus' subsequent move to the Technical University of Munich in 1966 did nothing to change this. At that time, he was regarded as a doyen of gyro technology. After a short biography of Kurt Magnus, the paper addresses the recent revision and digitization of the gyro instrument collection and presents an outline of the history of the conference series providing details on how gyro technology has developed since his work in Stuttgart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technical artefacts and instruments form an essential part of cultural heritage. If historically analysed and suitably explained, they provide insights into developments and objects that had and still have a significant influence upon our present civilization. Without any explanation and contextualization, however, these objects will remain stubbornly silent, especially if they are technically complex or highly encapsulated. Based on a gyroscope collection at the University of Stuttgart, the Gyrolog project intends to take these instruments out of their black boxes by digital means. These inconspicuous yet indispensable objects of many of today's key technologies (from automatic car navigation to handheld devices) are of prime interest to historians of technology as well as to technical didactics and to technical museums. The project will render the unique gyroscope collection at the University of Stuttgart digitally accessible and, moreover, will virtually unite it with smaller collections at other institutions. Apart from their importance for daily life technologies, gyroscopes have always been of prime military interest as well. Reproducing the artefacts digitally will therefore open further ways to science and technology studies of dual use technologies. Gyrolog aims at a basic digital representation of all gyroscopes found in German collections. At the centrepiece of the project, however, cutting edge imaging and digitalizing technologies will exhibit carefully selected objects literally in depth. By combining advanced animation and optical technologies, Gyrolog seeks to present a unique technical collection in digital format as well as an elaborated methodical approach for exploring complex small technical artefacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Classical applications of the Finite Element Method (FEM) in the aerospace industry use structural models to predict dynamical properties during all design and integration phases. During development, test results are used for the identification and updates of model parameters. In recent years, the availability of structures with electromechanical components, such as actively controlled subsystems or systems with structural health monitoring, has extended the amount of available data suitable for parameter identification in operational conditions even beyond the development phase. The contribution presents an approach of using measurement data from different stages of structural assemblies for the identification and update of model parameters. Estimating parameters for subassembly models is preferred, because it is often more intuitive than a global approach in a complex model. Estimation uncertainties propagating to higher assembly levels have to be considered when assessing the model accuracy of a composed model. (© 2017 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]