The Italian Textbooks of Mechanics Applied to Machines in the Modern Age

The purpose of this paper, within the limits of the space available, is to trace the evolution of the textbooks of Mechanics Applied to Machines in Italy, considering a time period that goes from the second post-war period till today. The study presented does not pretend to be complete but wants to highlight the main changes in the textbooks of Applied Mechanics, correlating them to the historical period in which they were published. If we want to classify the textbooks according to common characteristics, it is proposed a classification in 3 main classes: the Masters, the Schools and the Courses. The first class brings together the textbooks published up to around 1970, by the professors who opened the first modern courses in Applied Mechanics in Italian universities. The second class brings together textbooks between 1970 and the 2000s, when the number of universities was growing, as the teaching and student population. The third class brings together textbooks from the 2000s to today. The publications no longer want to be a reference for all Applied Mechanics, but the topics are selected according to the specific study courses for which they are designed. It is stressed that the classification into the three proposed classes must be made based on the contents of the text and not purely on the date of publication.