Biofluid Mechanics

When I wrote my doctoral thesis in 1969 on the subject of blood flow in arteries, "biofluid mechanics" had not yet been introduced. I was fIrst introduced to the term "Biofluid Mechanics" in 1973 by Professor E. Truckenbrodt. A course of study in 'biofluidmechanics' and a regular program of scientifIc research was begun at the Technical University of Munich in 1975. I have never stopped being fascinated with this fIeld. The main goal of the 2nd International Symposium on Biofluid Mechanics and Biorheology, like the fIrst Symposium held in Palm Springs, was to bring together physicians, physicists, bioengineers, and technical specialists with expertise in clini- cal, experimental, rheological and numerical analysis of the complex problem of blood flow and cardiovascular disease. As we discovered and are still fmding out, biofluid mechanics is a complex fIeld, encompassing, touching on or surely affecting many other scientifIc disciplines, including biology, medicine, biochemistry, bior- heology, mathematics, bioengineering and physics. This book, the Proceedings of our second meeting, represents the fmest work to date in the fIeld.The contributors, representing more than 20 countries, are among the most innovative, imaginative and hard-working researchers in their fIelds. They represent many disciplines and many fIelds of interest.