"A WORK THAT LAID THE BASIS OF MODERN HYDRODYNAMICS"

BERNOULLI, Daniel. Hydrodynamica, sive de viribus et motibus fluidorum commentarii. Strasbourg: Johann Reinhold Dulsseker, 1738. Quarto, contemporary full calf sympathetically rebacked in calf-gilt, raised bands, original tan morocco spine label and marbled endpapers preserved. $11,000.

First edition of Bernoulli's most important work, the source of Bernoulli's principle, a fundamental concept in fluid dynamics, with engraved title vignette and 12 engraved folding plates.

Daniel Bernoulli was from a Swiss family of important mathematicians; Bernoulli numbers are named after his uncle Jacob, his father Johann is well known for his contributions to calculus and for being the teacher of Leonhard Euler, and two of his brothers were professors of mathematics. Daniel's talent at mathematics brought him into early conflict with his father, who at one point banned Daniel from his house when Daniel won a mathematics competition in which both were entered. He became a professor of mathematics in St. Petersburg in 1724 at the age of 24, ultimately returning to Switzerland in 1733 to spend the rest of his career in various professorships at universities there and elsewhere. His most important work is Hydrodynamica. "Daniel's reputation was established in 1738 with Hydrodynamica, in which he considered the properties of basic importance in fluid flow, particularly pressure, density, and velocity, and set forth their fundamental relationship. He put forward what is called Bernoulli's principle, which states that the pressure in a fluid decreases as its velocity increases. He also established the basis for the kinetic theory of gases and heat by demonstrating that the impact of molecules on a surface would explain pressure and that, assuming the constant, random motion of molecules, pressure and motion increase with temperature. About 1738 his father published Hydraulica; this attempt by Johann to obtain priority for himself was another instance of his antagonism toward his son" (Britannica).

"Daniel Bernoulli's Hydrodynamica (a term he coined) contains his formulae for calculating the velocity, duration and quantity of liquid issuing from an opening in a container. The treatise also contains chapters on water oscillations, a theory of machinery (including an extensive treatment of the screw of Archimedes), and the properties and motions of elastic fluids (i.e. gases); in the chapter on gases, Bernoulli sketched a kinetic gas theory that allowed him to explain the basic gas laws and to anticipate Van der Waal's equation of state. Chapter 12 contains a derivation of the so-called Bernoulli equation for stationary currents, later refined by Johann Bernoulli and Euler" (Norman 215). "A work that laid the basis of modern hydrodynamics" (Wightman, The Growth of Scientific Ideas, 276). Text in Latin. Leaf BB3 bound out of order; text complete. Norman 215. A few marginal ink notations. Bookplate of the noted Turner Collection at the University of Keele, which was controversially deaccessioned by the library in 1999; small booklabel of French theoretical physicist Pierre Duhem. It was Duhem's insistence that no theory could be tested in isolation from the background of hypotheses on which it rests that make him one of the namesakes of the Duhem-Quine Thesis on the indeterminacy of experimental criteria.

Title page expertly cleaned, with only remnants of owner signature on title page surviving, otherwise interiors with only occasional light spotting and embrowning. An excellent copy.