In addition to many books, the best known of which are, The Differential Invariants of Generalized Spaces and Plastic Flow and Fracture in Solids, Professor Thomas wrote 172 research articles in such varied fields as the theory of relativity, plasticity, shock waves, tensors and differential geometry, the extended theory of condition for discontinuities over moving surfaces, and cosmology.
[2]Early in his long and distinguished career, Tracy Thomas created theories of tensor calculus and generalized spaces.
His treatise, The Differential Invariants of Generalized Spaces, was published in 1934 and remains a classic of the subject.
He went on to solve a famous open problem concerning the motion of pairs of bodies.
There followed a long series of studies of the shock waves that form ahead of object moving at supersonic speed, and to examine the plastic flow of metals under great loading.