This book evaluates the importance of various historical sources and discusses their role in the creation and transmission of scientific knowledge. It presents an annotated translation of the introductory words given by Johan Ludvig Heiberg to his translation of the works of Archimedes. Further, it offers English translations of and commentaries on selected fundamental works by Ernst Hellinger and Gabrio Piola, which lay the groundwork for the modern theory of advanced materials, and also examines the criteria used to evaluate scientific works.

Francesco dell’Isola has been Full Professor at the Department of Structure and Geotechnical Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, since 2006 and Full Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering (DICEAA), University of L’Aquila, Italy, since 2016. In 2016, he also became Director of the International Research Center M&MoCS (University of L’Aquila). Since 2015, he has been Responsible Italian Scientific Expert at the Laboratoire International Associé (LIA) Coss&Vita, a French-Italian international laboratory. His research activities chiefly focus on the synthesis and design of metamaterials and on generalized models in continuum mechanics.

Simon R. Eugster is Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Nonlinear Mechanics (INM), University of Stuttgart, Germany, since 2020. He received his MSc and PhD degree from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 2009 and 2014. In 2014, he became Lecturer at the INM at the University of Stuttgart. His research is focused on the mathematicaldescription of highly deformable elastic structures with a particular interest in mechanical metamaterials as well as soft robotics and multibody dynamics.

Mario Spagnuolo is Researcher at the Department of Civil and Environment Engineering and Architecture (DICAAR), University of Cagliari (Italy) since 2019. He obtained his PhD in Paris at the Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, where he was granted a Marie Sklodowska Curie European scholarship. His research mainly focuses on structural mechanics and continuum mechanics, with a particular interest in the synthesis and design of metamaterials.