1 Foundation of Fluid Mechanics
3
Fig. 1.3 Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519 A.D., Italian versatile scientist)
said that only in the late seventeenth century, after the invention of calculus
by the British scientist Newton (Isaac Newton, 1643–1727, as shown in
Fig. 1.5) and the German scientist Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716,
as shown in Fig. 1.6), it laid a solid mathematical foundation for the development of fluid mechanics, and injected infinite vitality. According to historical
records, Newton’s “stream number concept” calculus was proposed in an
unpublished essay written in 1666, while Leibniz’s calculus was mentioned in
unpublished manuscripts and correspondence in 1675; so they had independent inventive rights. Leibniz officially published his discovery of differential
in 1684. Two years later, he published a study of integrals. The general
calculus symbols are proposed by Leibniz. Studying Leibniz’s manuscript,
we also find that Leibniz and Newton created calculus from different ideas:
Newton first had the concept of derivative and then integral to solve the
problem of motion; Leibniz, in turn, influenced by his philosophy, had the
concept of integral and then derivative. Newton only regarded calculus as a
mathematical tool in physics research, while Leibniz realized that calculus
would bring a revolution in mathematics. The dispute between Newton
and Leibniz over the right to invent calculus has evolved historically into
a confrontation between the British scientific community and the German
scientific community, and even with the scientific community of the whole
European continent. British mathematicians were reluctant to accept the
research results of continental mathematicians for a long time. Their insistence on teaching using Newton’s backward calculus symbols and outdated
3
Fig. 1.3 Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519 A.D., Italian versatile scientist)
said that only in the late seventeenth century, after the invention of calculus
by the British scientist Newton (Isaac Newton, 1643–1727, as shown in
Fig. 1.5) and the German scientist Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716,
as shown in Fig. 1.6), it laid a solid mathematical foundation for the development of fluid mechanics, and injected infinite vitality. According to historical
records, Newton’s “stream number concept” calculus was proposed in an
unpublished essay written in 1666, while Leibniz’s calculus was mentioned in
unpublished manuscripts and correspondence in 1675; so they had independent inventive rights. Leibniz officially published his discovery of differential
in 1684. Two years later, he published a study of integrals. The general
calculus symbols are proposed by Leibniz. Studying Leibniz’s manuscript,
we also find that Leibniz and Newton created calculus from different ideas:
Newton first had the concept of derivative and then integral to solve the
problem of motion; Leibniz, in turn, influenced by his philosophy, had the
concept of integral and then derivative. Newton only regarded calculus as a
mathematical tool in physics research, while Leibniz realized that calculus
would bring a revolution in mathematics. The dispute between Newton
and Leibniz over the right to invent calculus has evolved historically into
a confrontation between the British scientific community and the German
scientific community, and even with the scientific community of the whole
European continent. British mathematicians were reluctant to accept the
research results of continental mathematicians for a long time. Their insistence on teaching using Newton’s backward calculus symbols and outdated