Project

Geschichte der Mathematik; Johann Bernoulli; Korrespondenz; Geschichte der exakten Wissenschaften; Pierre Varignon

Lead
Das Projekt sieht die kritische und kommentierte Edition der noch unpublizierten 95 Briefe aus der Korrespondenz zwischen den Mathematikern Johann I Bernoulli (1667-1748) und Pierre Varignon (1654-1722) vor und schliesst somit das Gesamtvorhaben einer Bernoulli-Varignon-Edition ab.
Lay summary
Die Edition bildet seit langem ein Desiderat der Mathematik- und Wissenschaftsforschung, da sie eine wichtige Textquelle zum Verständnis der Weiterentwicklung des Infinitesimalkalküls bereitstellt und zur Erschliessung des wissenschaftlichen Netzwerkes der frühen Neuzeit beiträgt. Johann Bernoulli war die zentrale Figur bei der Weiterentwicklung und Verbreitung der Leibnizschen Infinitesimalmathematik. Pierre Varignon hingegen der ideale Briefpartner, der als begabter und ausserordentlich gut vernetzter Mathematiker gleichsam zur Diskussion wissenschaftlicher Fragen als auch zur Verbreitung neuer Erkenntnisse beitragen konnte.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 21.09.2016

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

The subject of the present research project is the critical edition, fully annotated with commentary, of a corpus of 95 letters (ca. 500 typewritten pages) exchanged from 1714 to 1722 between the mathematicians Johann I Bernoulli (1667-1748) and Pierre Varignon (1654-1722). About two thirds of the Bernoulli-Varignon correspondence have been already edited (Der Briefwechsel von Johann I Bernoulli. Band 2 and Band 3). With the edition of this last group of letters, the edition of the Bernoulli-Varignon correspondence will be completed and made accessible in its entirety to the scholarly community.The Bernoulli-Varignon correspondence represents one part of the Bernoulli correspondence, which comprises the epistolary exchanges of seven mathematicians and physicists of the Bernoulli family with several important figures of the scientific community of their time. With its 253 preserved letters, the correspondence with Varignon is one of the most substantial of the corpus. In the letters, two exceptionally well networked scholars treat of a wide variety of scientific subjects. The two correspondents concerned are central figures in the scientific landscape of their time. Johann I Bernoulli is justly regarded as a mathematician and physicist of world renown. Pierre Varignon for his part played an important role as a mediator in the scientific discourse of this time.The edition which is here proposed aims at providing scholars with access to an important body of hitherto unpublished source material. The letters concerned are essential for the study of the history of mathematics and physics and for the understanding of the role of Johann I Bernoulli and Pierre Varignon in the scientific discourse of their time. Moreover, the Bernoulli-Varignon correspondence constitutes an important document of scientific interchange and communication in 18th-century Europe.