A group of distinguished colleagues and friends in the field of finite element methods (FEM) and computational mechanics will become 60 years old during 2002. The group (called hereafter "FEM Class of 42 Fellows") include R. Owen, B. Schrefler, H. Mang, K.C. Park, J. Periaux and R. Ohayon.

A kind of informal collective celebration (on top of any other initiatives taken by other groups and institutions elsewhere) has been planned. This celebration will give us the chance to meet many common friends which share close personal and professional ties with the names listed above.

The group would also have included Mike Crisfield who tragically passed away on 19th February 2002. The meeting will, therefore, also celebrate Mike's life and provide colleagues and friends with the opportunity to pay tribute to the many scientific contributions he made during his career in finite element research.

The location for the gathering is the city of Ibiza (Spain) and the dates are 30 and 31 May 2002. We plan to start on the morning of the 30th and finish by lunchtime on May 31st. The social activities will include a welcome cocktail on Wednesday 29th, a lunch on May 30th, a Celebration Dinner on May 30th and a Farewell Lunch on May 31st.

The technical meeting will take place at the premises of the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Univeristy of the Balearic Islands, UIB). The conference room gently provided by UIB has excellent facilities for overhead and PC projection and internet connection. All registration matters will be dealt with by the International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) in Barcelona.

The meeting will have the format of a workshop with technical sessions dedicated to each of the FEM Class of 42 Fellows. Each session will probably include 2/3 presentations by persons selected by our FEM Class of 42 colleagues.

Participants at the meeting will contribute to the celebration via this Web Page where personal greetings can be sent to each of the FEM Class of 42 Fellows. These greetings will be treated privately. A public section of the web page is also available for publication of scientific papers dedicated to each of the "FEM Class of 42 Fellows". The public content of the web page will be disseminated worldwide after the Ibiza event. It is also planned to devote part of the meeting in Ibiza to present the content of the web page.

We thank all contributors to this initiative and we look forward to receiving your contributions to honour the FEM Class of 42 Fellows.

George Peric Univ. College of Swansea Wales, UK

Eugenio Oņate Univ. Politecnica de Catalunya CIMNE Barcelona, Spain

Organisers of the FEM Class of 42 Meeting