Historical background of Daniel Bernoulli, and his Contributions.
Daniel Bernoulli's Background!
Daniel Bernoulli was born on January 29, 1700 in Groningen, Netherlands. The Bernoulli family was well known for their excellence in mathematics and physics. His father was Johann Bernoulli, was a mathematician in Groningen. His older brother Nicolaus, also had an impact in mathematics. Continuing his studies Bernoulli studied in Italy until the age of 24 and received a doctorate in medicine. The next year he left Italy to St. Petersburg, Russia, as a professor of mathematics. He returned to Switzerland after 8 years due to his health, continued his teaching career in anatomy and botany, then changed to experimental and speculative philosophy (theoretical physics). He has been called the father of mathematical physics.
Contributions!
Bernoulli is best known for his work on hydrodynamics, but he also did pioneering work on the kinetic theory of gases. Daniel Bernoulli was very honored during his lifetime and was considered one of the greatest mathematicians and physicists of all time along with many others.
Although he is not as well known as Newton or Einstein, his contributions earned him great regard during his time. many of his idea's are the foundation of engineering applications, such as aircraft wing design. Bernoulli is best remembered for his applications of mathematics to mechanics, for his pioneering work in probability and statics, was also the earliest writer to attempt to formulate a kinetic theory of gases.
Some interesting Events!
In 1725, Daniel was invited to become the chair of mathematics at the Imperial Academy in St Petersburg, Russia.
In 1734, Daniel returned to Switzerland awarded an academic position. In the same year Daniel and his father were jointly awarded a prize from the French Academy of Sciences.
For the next three years Daniel continued to work on Hydrodynamica, where he introduced the idea of potential energy.
Daniel lost much of his drive in mathematics and turned his focus to medicine and physiology.
He remained in Switzerland until his death in 1782.
Bernoulli’s method of measuring pressure is still used today in the aircraft industry to measure the speed of air passing the plane-air speed.