Bernard Schrefler is Professor of Structural Mechanics at the University of Padua and Secretary General of the International Centre for Mechanical Sciences (CISM) in Udine. He obtained a D.Sc. at the University of Wales, an honorary doctorate from the St. Petersburg State Technical University and from the University of Technology of Lodz. He has published more than 300 papers on structural engineering, soil mechanics and environmental mechanics, as well as on technology for nuclear fusion, and has written or edited 20 books.