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The discovery of rigid body dynamics. (English) Zbl 1171.01002

Speiser, David, Discovering the principles of mechanics 1600-1800. Essays by David Speiser. Edited by Kim Williams and Sandro Caparrini. Basel: Birkhäuser (ISBN 978-3-7643-8564-4/hbk). 85-104 (2008).
The author gives an overview of the early development of rigid body dynamics. In particular, the contributions of Christiaan Huyghens, Jacob Bernoulli, and Leonhard Euler (including some remarks on their biography) are discussed. The role rigid body dynamics played for the modern understanding of relativity is emphasised.
For the entire collection see [Zbl 1151.01001].

MSC:

01-06 Proceedings, conferences, collections, etc. pertaining to history and biography
01A45 History of mathematics in the 17th century
01A50 History of mathematics in the 18th century
01A70 Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies
70-03 History of mechanics of particles and systems
83-03 History of relativity and gravitational theory
70E99 Dynamics of a rigid body and of multibody systems
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