Interdisciplinary multi-scale research on environment assisted cracking: The 50Â year legacy of Robert P. Wei

Robert P. Wei died at the age of 84 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on September 28, 2015. The solid mechanics and materials science communities have lost a leader and visionary who dedicated five decades of his life to developing people and fundamental knowledge through world-class teaching and research. His contributions greatly advanced the broad areas of hydrogen embrittlement, stress corrosion cracking, and environment-assisted fatigue crack propagation. His approach, centered on interdisciplinary integration of rigorous fracture mechanics experiments and mass transport plus reaction rate modeling, provides a roadmap for future developments. It is appropriate to recognize the large body of Professor Wei's work in this special issue of the International Journal of Fatigue.