The book is devoted to the history of the formation and development of the Soviet school of machine mechanics (theory of mechanisms and machines), in particular, the creative path of its organizer and leader, academician I. I. Artobolevsky. The roots of the Soviet school of machine mechanics, which inherited the best traditions of Russian machine scientists and mechanics, the development of Soviet research on the theory of mechanisms, the importance of the work of the Soviet school of machine mechanics in world science, are shown.