The atomic mechanisms of fracture

During the week of April 12, 1959, an International Conference on Fracture was held at Swampscott, Massachusetts. Plans for it had been in the making for the previous year and a half. Except for the commuting Boston (MIT) contingent, all of the attending scientists were housed most comfortably in the New Ocean House, a North Shore resort hotel of turn‐of‐the‐century elegance on the ocean twelve miles from Boston. Some took advantage of the between‐session breaks to walk on the private beach in the brisk 50° brilliant sunny weather, but many never left the hotel during the entire conference. Certainly living so completely together during the entire time of the conference fostered an intensive and extensive interchange of information and ideas which would not have been possible otherwise.