"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."
Leonhard Euler

January 1, 1970