The General Assembly of the International Union of Theoreti cal and Applied Mechanics decided in Cambridge, United King dom, in 1982 to arrange the Symposium on Optical Methods in the Dynamics of Fluids and Solids. This decision was stimu lated by the fact that optical diagnostic methods are a more and more important tool in experimental mechanics. In contrast to the foregoing Symposium in Poitiers. 1976, which was devoted exclusively to optical methods in the me chanics of solids, it was a fruitful idea to bring together during the present Symposium scientists engaged in optical methods in...