Ronald Rivlin and invariant theory

Ronald Rivlin was an outstanding figure in the development of modern nonlinear continuum mechanics in the second half of the 20th century. Much of his research is characterized by the innovative, systematic and effective use of methods based on invariant theory. In this paper, we summarize his work in this area, and show that it continues to be effective in applications to recent research in the mechanics of fibre-reinforced elastic materials.