It is with great pleasure that I dedicate this issue to Professor Norman Jones on the occasion of his 65th birthday. During this time Professor Jones was attending the IMPLAST 03 conference in New Delhi-papers of this conference are published in this issue, both a tribute issue to Norman and as a special conference issue with the best-selected papers.
At the opening speeches of the conference, which included speakers from the Indian government, Norman Jones gave us an overview of his research, how he was drawn into the subject of impact engineering, and which particular areas interested him throughout his career. Later during one of the conference dinners, colleagues and friends spoke about how they had met and how Norman has 'impacted' his research field, congratulating him to his birthday and wishing him well.
I would like to repeat these congratulations here at the start of this issue, on behalf of not only the attendees of the conference and the contributors to this issue, but also on behalf of my colleagues at Elsevier, and the International Journal of Impact Engineering's authors and readers. As Editor of the International Journal of Impact Engineering Norman has over many years fostered growth in the journal's content, continued to create a focus for the impact research community, and further improved the reputation of the journal.
On behalf of Elsevier and authors of the International Journal of Impact Engineering, we wish Norman many more productive years and wish Norman and Jenny all the best.