The Curious Life of Walter Lode

ABSTRACT

This paper is intended to serve as a supplement to the work [ PAMM ‐ Proceedings in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics 24, no. 2 (2024): e202400004] to underline the significance of the Lode angle and Lode parameter—concepts attributed to Walter Lode—for the development of modern plasticity theory. Building on his original work, emphasis is placed on the interpretations of his contemporaries and subsequent generations, which finally have led to the relationships for these quantities that are in common use today. In contrast to the widespread recognition his work now enjoys, the person of Walter Lode had been largely forgotten over the years. This study aims to help bridge that gap by shedding some light on the life and work of one of the lesser‐known graduates of the Göttingen School. The fact that his life did not follow a particularly straightforward path is, of course, attributed to the special circumstances and upheavals of the era of the two world wars and the period in between.