When Prof. Alan G. Thomas passed away in 2019,1  many of us in the rubber science community felt moved to produce a special collection of research contributions commemorating his life and his pioneering contributions to the field. It has taken a few years to pull this together, but this special issue of Rubber Chemistry and Technology is the result. The issue collects contributions from current leaders of the field that build on foundations laid by Prof. Thomas. The topics include hyperelasticity, stress concentrations, cord–rubber composites, fracture mechanics, friction, wear, crosslinking, and dielectric properties—all topics that Prof. Thomas advanced during his remarkable career. We note also that earlier this year, Dr. Graham Lake passed away. Dr. Lake was another of the early pioneers of fracture mechanics for elastomers and a long-time colleague of Prof. Thomas. We therefore have included a remembrance of Dr. Lake in this issue.2  We are...

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