An historical perspective on fractional calculus in linear viscoelasticity

The article provides an historical survey of early contributions on the applications of fractional calculus in linear viscoelasticty. The period under examination covers four decades, since 1930’s up to 1970’s, and authors are from both Western and Eastern countries. References to more recent contributions may be found in the bibliography of the author’s book. This paper reproduces, with Publisher’s permission, Section 3.5 of the book: F. Mainardi, Fractional Calculus and Waves in Linear Viscoelasticity, Imperial College Press-London and World Scienific-Singapore, 2010.