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Dear colleagues,
A short time ago, I posted a message about who coined the
word BIOMECHANICS. Though the 1911 German reference of
Benedikt or Benedict is still undefeated, there are reasons
to beleive that earlier references can be found.
B.J. Fregly from San Jose, California is aware of a book published
in 1906, in German, in which the concept of net muscle joint
torques and how to calculate them are discussed. He needs now to
establish if the word biomechanics is specifically referenced
in the text.
Paul DeVita from East Carolina University in the United States
was also investigating the origin of the word biomechanics
and particularly in relation to the Russian theater director
Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874-1940). He did biomechanical
theater in the first three decades of this century. Paul DeVita
encourages us to read a complete article on Meyerhold
which he has written in the next ISB Newsletter.
Peter Zioupos from the University of York has lauch an
interesting semantic debate. Though it appears that the
word biomechanics has come up at the turn of this century,
iatromechanics was well known in the previous centuries.
Specific references to iatromechanics need to be found.
The word hunt is still open but enlarged to both
BIOMECHANICS and IATROMECHANICS.
Best wishes to everyone and many thanks to those who have
contributed to this quest.
Paul Allard
Laboratoire d'Etude du Mouvement
Research Center
Sainte-Justine Hospital
3175 Cote Ste-Catherine
Montreal, PQ, H3T 1C5, Canada
tel 1 514 345 4740
fax 1 514 345 4801
email allardp@ere.umontreal.ca
A short time ago, I posted a message about who coined the
word BIOMECHANICS. Though the 1911 German reference of
Benedikt or Benedict is still undefeated, there are reasons
to beleive that earlier references can be found.
B.J. Fregly from San Jose, California is aware of a book published
in 1906, in German, in which the concept of net muscle joint
torques and how to calculate them are discussed. He needs now to
establish if the word biomechanics is specifically referenced
in the text.
Paul DeVita from East Carolina University in the United States
was also investigating the origin of the word biomechanics
and particularly in relation to the Russian theater director
Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874-1940). He did biomechanical
theater in the first three decades of this century. Paul DeVita
encourages us to read a complete article on Meyerhold
which he has written in the next ISB Newsletter.
Peter Zioupos from the University of York has lauch an
interesting semantic debate. Though it appears that the
word biomechanics has come up at the turn of this century,
iatromechanics was well known in the previous centuries.
Specific references to iatromechanics need to be found.
The word hunt is still open but enlarged to both
BIOMECHANICS and IATROMECHANICS.
Best wishes to everyone and many thanks to those who have
contributed to this quest.
Paul Allard
Laboratoire d'Etude du Mouvement
Research Center
Sainte-Justine Hospital
3175 Cote Ste-Catherine
Montreal, PQ, H3T 1C5, Canada
tel 1 514 345 4740
fax 1 514 345 4801
email allardp@ere.umontreal.ca