In the spring of 1999 Professor Marco Ceccarelli invited Professor Ferdinand Freudenstein to present the opening plenary lecture at the International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms, sponsored by IFToMM and scheduled to be held in May 2000 in Cassino, Italy.
Professor Ceccarelli requested that the lecture contain a short overview of the field in relation to Professor Freudenstein's personal history. However, Professor Freudenstein had retired from Columbia University three years earlier, and by the time the invitation came his health was such that it would have been difficult for him to travel to Europe. Still he accepted the invitation, and in May 1999, with the assistance of his wife Lydia, and a colleague, Professor Richard Longman of Columbia University, he made a videotape of his plenary lecture. This tape was played at the opening of the conference in Cassino in May 2000. It is the last professional presentation by Professor Freudenstein. The transcript of the talk follows.
