"Of no little importance are Euler's labors in analytical mechanics. ...He worked out the theory of the rotation of a body around a fixed point, established the general equations of motion of a free body, and the general equation of hydrodynamics. He solved an immense number and variety of mechanical problems, which arose in his mind on all occasions. Thus on reading Virgil's lines. "The anchor drops, the rushing keel is staid," he could not help inquiring what would be the ship's motion in such a case. About the same time as Daniel Bernoulli he published the Principle of the Conservation of Areas and defended the principle of "least action," advanced by P. Maupertius. He wrote also on tides and on sound."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Florian Cajori, A History of Mathematics (1893) "Euler, Lagrange and Laplace" p. 240.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_action
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Principle of least action
26 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Principle of least action →
Related Quotes
"Let the mass of the projectile be M, and let its speed be v while being moved over an infinitesimal distance ds. The …"
"After having worked in the theory of light and gravitation, he announced, in 1744, a new minimum principle, the Princ…"
"The minimum principle that unified the knowledge of light, gravitation, and electricity of Hamilton's time no longer …"
"Maupertuis really had no principle, properly speaking, but only a vague formula, which was forced to do duty as the e…"
"Euler's view is, that the purposes of the phenomena of nature afford as good a basis of explanation as their causes. …"
"I must now explain what I mean by the quantity of action. A certain action is necessary for the carrying of a body fr…"
"After so many great men have worked on this subject, I almost do not dare to say that I have discovered the universal…"
"When a change occurs in Nature, the quantity of action necessary for that change is as small as possible. The quantit…"
"It [science] has as its highest principle and most coveted aim the solution of the problem to condense all natural ph…"
"The first formulation of (part of) mechanics by means of a variational principle... is due to Maupertuis in 1746 in a…"