RUDOLPH SZILARD, Dr.-ING., P.E., is Emeritus Professor of Structural Mechanics at the University of Hawaii, and retired chairman of the Structural Mechanics Department at the University of Dortmund, Germany. His long and illustrious career in both academia and in the professional practice of engineering includes serving as a senior structural engineer with the noted firm of Ammann and Whitney, as well as authoring numerous scientific papers and eight books on structural mechanics. Dr. Szilard was the recipient of a "Senior Fellowship Award" by the A. von Humboldt Foundation, Germany.