Historical sense in the historians of the theory of elasticity

This paper studies the historical and epistemological approaches followed by historians of the theory of elasticity. The authors chosen are Todhunter and Pearson, Love, Timoshenko, and Truesdell, who are perhaps the most important historians in English language since the second half of the nineteenth century. It is shown that the historical purpose has changed from one historian to the next, ranging from history as a compilation of what is known to criticism of the evolution of elasticity. The path of progress is investigated and again there are significant differences between historians although overall they have a sense of confluence towards some form of truth. The relation between history and theory is identified as a recurrent theme. And the epistemology in each author, although not explicitly stated, is seen to change following the main trends in their times or before. Some possible avenues of research are mentioned towards the end.

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