This volume records the proceedings of an international conference organised as a tribute to the contribution made by Professor H. Fessler over the whole of his pro­ fessionallife, in the field of applied stress analysis. The conference, held at the University of Nottingham on 30 and 31 August 1990, was timed to coincide with the date of his formal retirement from the post of Professor of Experimental Stress Analysis in the University. The idea grew from discussions between some of Professor Fessler's academic associates from Nottingham and elsewhere. An organising committee was set up, and it was decided to invite contributions to the conference in the form of review papers and original research papers in the field of experimental, theoretical and computational stress analysis. The size of the response, both in papers submitted and in attendance at the conference, indicates that the idea proved attractive to many of his peers, former associates and research students. A bound copy of the volume is to be presented to Professor Fessler at the conference dinner on 30 August 1990.