"The method of considering the components of a vector as the first derivatives of a certain function of the coordinates with respect to those coordinates was invented by Laplace ... in his treatment of the theory of attractions. The name of Potential was first given to this function by ..., who made it the basis of his theory of electricity. Green's essay was neglected by mathematicians till 1846, and before that time most of its important theorems had been discovered by Gauss, , , and ..."