Fracture mechanics and materials testing: forgotten pioneers of the early 20th century.

This contribution introduces the work of early researchers in the field of fracture mechanics and materials testing. The development in fracture mechanics around the turn of the century in Germany and Austria-Hungary is presented, and the work of pioneers, e.g. K. Wieghardt, A. V. Leon, K. Wolf, A. Smekal and P. Ludwig is critically discussed. A comparison with the developments by G. I. Inglis and A. A. Griffith is elaborated. It will be shown that the work of these pioneers—particularly the 1907 paper by Wieghardt on the development of the basic analytical equations of fracture mechanics— predates many of the later developments by several decades. The work by Wieghardt was in fact directly related to a practical failure case, and the voluminous work of Leon was mainly driven by practical needs of engineering. The reasons for the neglect of Wieghardt's fundamental paper of 1907—particularly in the Anglo-American hemisphere—are critically discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]