The 50th anniversary of the death of Adolf Gustav Smekal (1895-1959), a pioneer in materials physics

The Austrian physicist Adolf G. Smekal (1895-1959) was one of the most creative and active materials scientists of the twentieth century. This paper reports about the contributions of Smekal and co-workers to the physics of fracture, fractography, fracture dynamics, micro-plasticity, and the comminution of brittle materials.