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- Bernoulli family - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
The Bernoulli family is a Swiss family of mathematicians who pioneered in the application of calculus to physics. Jakob (1654-1705), a professor of mathematics at the University of Basel, is best known for his work on the theory of probability and his principles of the calculus of variation. He developed the Bernoulli numbers, by which he derived the exponential series, and he introduced the term integral. His brother Johann (1667-1748), also a professor of mathematics at Basel, used calculus to determine lengths and areas of curves and contributed to the theory of differential equations, the mathematics of ship sails, and optics. Johann’s son, Daniel (1700-82), advanced the theory of differential equations, especially as it applied to hydrodynamics and the problem of vibrating strings. He was a professor of mathematics at the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia, from 1734 to 1742 and later taught anatomy, botany, physics, and philosophy at the University of Basel. He discovered Bernoulli’s principle and contributed to probability theory. His most important publication, Hydrodynamica, advances the kinetic theory of gases and fluids. (See also mathematics.)