Biomechanics as a scientific activity is not new. Already involved (or so it is said) in its practice were Aristotle (384-327 BC) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Recently, however, it has become fashionable as a separate field, as witnessed by the existence of a Journal of Biomechanics (1968), an Interna- tional (1973), a European (1976) and an American (1977) Society of Biomechanics, and an amount of (usually recently erected) Biomechanics Laboratories at Uni- versities or other institutions throughout the world. If one or~anises a Con- ference on Biomechanics, a relatively large number...

The papers presented at the Fourth 'Meeting of the European Society of Biomechanics, held in collaboration with the European Society for Biomaterials in late September 1984 in Davos, Switzerland, are published herewith. The main idea of the meeting was to gather together the many disciplines of researchers and clinicians active and interested in promoting biomechanical knowledge in one interdisciplinary society: the European Society of Biomechanics. We feel that the dialog across the disciplines is one of the important goals of the society, a goal which can be furthered by meetings like the...