著者

野澤 聡

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.48, no.252, pp.193-203, 2009-12-25

被引用文献数

2

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Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1772) is known for his masterpiece Hydrodynamica (1738), which presented the original formalism of "Bernoulli's Theorem," a fundamental law of fluid mechanics. Previous historical analyses have assumed that Daniel solely used the controversial principle of "conservation of vis viva" to introduce his theorem in this work. The "vis viva controversy" began in the 1680s between Cartesians, who defended the importance of momentum, and Leibnizians, who defended vis viva, as the basis of mechanics. In the 1720s, various Newtonians entered the dispute and sided with the crucial role of momentum. Since then, historians believed that 18th century natural philosophers regarded "vis viva" as incompatible with and opposed to Newtonian mechanics. This article argues that to introduce his theorem, Bernoulli not only used the principle of the conservation of vis viva but also the acceleration law, which originated in Newton's second law of motion. By looking at how eighteenth century scholars actually solved the challenging problems of their period instead of looking only at their philosophical claims, this paper shows the practice of mechanics at that time was far more pragmatic and dynamic than previously realized.