A Note by K. L. Johnson on the History of the JKR Theory

Abstract

The history of the following note is as follows. In 2003, I invited Kenneth Johnson to Berlin to give a talk on adhesion in a seminar at the Institute of Mechanics. His lecture on the topic "Mechanics of adhesion of spherical surfaces" took place on Monday, January 26, 2004. In the run-up to the seminar, Professor Johnson sent me a historical note dated November 18, 2003. In my opinion, this note, which was written in the form of a paper, may be of interest for experts in contact mechanics and tribology. Prof. Johnson did not publish it, so it remained a private communication. For a publication he might have made a revision and would possibly have credited other important contributions. But this we can only guess at, and therefore the note is published below in the form I received it from Kenneth L. Johnson, with only a few misprints corrected. It is interesting as a historical document from Ken Johnson, who played a key role in development of theory of adhesive contacts.