Johann(II) Bernoulli

Born: 28 May 1710 in Basel, Switzerland

Died: 17 July 1790 in Basel, Switzerland

Johann(II) Bernoulli was one of three sons of  Johann Bernoulli.
In fact he was the most successful of the three. He originally studied law and
in 1727 he obtained the degree of doctor of jurisprudence.

He worked on mathematics both with his father and as an
independent worker. He had the remarkable distinction of winning the Prize of
the Paris Academy on no less than four separate occasions. On the strength of
this he was appointed to his father's chair in Basel when  Johann Bernoulli
died.

However, quoting:-

... thereafter his mathematical production dwindled to occasional
academic papers and a treatise, although he lived to almost as old as his
father. His shyness and frail constitution did not, however, prevent him from
engaging in extensive scientific correspondence (about 900 items) and from
furthering the publication, in four volumes, of his father's Opera Omnia. He
personified the mathematical genius of his native city in the second half of
the eighteenth century.

Johann(II) Bernoulli worked mainly on heat and light.

 Maupertuis, who was President of the Berlin Academy, was accused
by  Samuel König of plagiarising  Leibniz's work. Voltaire was so critical
of  Maupertuis' work that eventually he left Berlin and, in 1756, travelled to
Basel where he took refuge in Johann(II) Bernoulli home.  Maupertuis remained
in Johann's home for the last three years of his life.

J J O'Connor and E F Robertson

Список литературы

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