Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Jacob Bernoulli

Jacob Bernoulli (also known as James or Jacques) (1654 – 1705) – By Niklaus Bernoulli – Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Jacob Bernoulli

Jacob Bernoulli was a Swiss mathematician. You might have interacted with the name Bernoulli before reading this article. Jacob is the first of the many famous Swiss mathematicians from the Bernoulli family.

He is also referred to as James or Jacques Bernoulli. Jacob was born on 6th January 1655 in Basel Switzerland and died on 16th August 1705 in the city of Basel.

As an accomplished mathematician, Jacob Bernoulli was responsible for several discoveries and had tremendous achievements. He made several groundbreaking contributions to calculus and discovered the mathematical constant ‘e’ to name a few of his achievements.

Below are some outstanding facts about the life and career of one of the greatest mathematicians, Jacob Bernoulli.

1. His Initial Area of Study Was Theology

Jacob Bernoulli was the son of Nicolaus Bernoulli (1623-1708), a business man and Margaretha Schönauer. As per his father’s wishes, Jacob studied theology and Philosophy.

He received his master of arts in philosophy in 1671 and a theology licentiate in 1676. However, these were not his passions and he decided to pursue mathematics instead.

He, therefore, studied mathematics and astronomy. Between 1676 and 1682, Jacob traveled to Europe learning about the discoveries made in mathematics and science.

He went to France where he studied with Descartes’ followers (led at the time by Malebranche). He also went to the Netherlands and met with Hudde and later England where he met and worked with Boyle and Hooke.

2. His Theory on Comets Was Proven Incorrect

Early in his career, Bernoulli was fascinated by the apparent relationship between mathematics and the cosmos. To this end, most of his work at the time dealt with gravity and the path of comets.

Jacob went ahead and formulated a theory on the origin of comets. However, this theory was quickly debunked by other scholars in the field.

3. He Settled in Basel After His European Travels

In 1683, he returned from his travels and got a teaching job at his alma mater, the University of Basel. He taught Mechanics at the university, giving very crucial lectures on the mechanics of both liquids and solids.

Since he had a degree in theology, the church attempted to recruit him but he turned the offer down. He opted to keep working on his mathematics and physics research and experiments. A wise choice as time has proven.

While at the university, he began publishing his findings and results in two European journals. These Journals included the Journal des sçavans and Acta eruditorum.

He was able to build his reputation slowly, especially after his pamphlet on parallels between logic and algebra in 1685. In 1687, he was offered a professor post at the University of Basel. He took this post and remained as such for the rest of his life.

4. His Work Was Greatly Influenced by Leibniz

Portrait of the philosopher Leibniz (ca. 1695) – By Christoph Bernhard Francke – Wikipedia

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and diplomat. Leibniz was a rather misunderstood scholar who was only appreciated and followed by very few people.

Among his followers was Jacob Bernoulli who was among the first few people to truly grasp the essence of calculus. Bernoulli was also able to work on Leibniz’s quandary over the isochronous curve.

5. His Children Did Not Become Mathematicians nor Scientists

In 1684, Jacob Bernoulli married Judith Stupanus the daughter of a wealthy pharmacist. Jacob and Judith had two children together, a son and a daughter.

The son was named after his grandfather, Nikolaus. None of Jacob’s two children followed in their father’s footsteps. Nikolaus became a town councilor and master of the artists’ guild. Very little is known about the daughter’s whereabouts.

6. He Had a Rivalry with His Brother Johann Bernoulli

One constant during Jacob’s industrious career was his rivalry with his younger brother Johann Bernoulli. Similarly, their father strongly discouraged Johann from a career in mathematics and science.

Johann, therefore, studied Medicine at the University of Basel before studying mathematics under Jacob. After successfully graduating, Johann took a job at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in 1964.

This brought about some competition and antagonism between the two. They often had arguments centered around mathematical and scientific methods and riddles.

7. He Was Fascinated by the Mollusk Shell

Variety of Mollusc shells (gastropods, snails, and seashells) – By Dr. Zachi Evenor – Wikimedia Commons

The Mollusk Shell is an exoskeleton that supports, encloses, and protects the soft internal organs of phylum Mollusca creatures. Bernoulli had a fascination with the mathematical properties of curves specifically the logarithmic spiral.

The said logarithmic spiral is similar to the chambered nautilus mollusk shell in nature due to the perfectly symmetrical spirals. In Notable Mathematicians, Bernoulli noticed self-similarity among other unique properties. This means that any portion if scaled up or down is congruent to other parts of the curve. So intrigued was Bernoulli by its shape he requested his tombstone sport the motif.

8. Bernoulli’s Most Important Work Was in Probability

Cutout From Jakob Bernoulli’s Ars Conjectandi, 1713, TeXted by the creator of the image – By Creator:Wirkstoff – Wikimedia Commons

In 1713, One of Bernoulli’s best-known works, Ars conjectandi (The Art of Conjecture) was published. The work was on probability theory and it was published posthumously.

Bernoulli discussed what would be known as the Bernoulli numbers and the Bernoulli theorem. He also analyzed games of chance according to player variations and expected profits among other variables.

This work stood the test of time holding its seniority to other works into the modern age. Ars conjectandi is also where Bernoulli first derived the first version of the law of large numbers.

9. He Was the First to Use the Term Integral

In 1690, Jacob Bernoulli published a paper in Acta Eruditorum.  He showed that the Isochrone problem can be solved using a similar tactic as a first-order nonlinear differential equation.

In this paper, Bernoulli also developed the method for solving differential equations. Which is now known as the separation of variables.

This 1690 paper is also famous since it is the first time the term integral appears with its integration meaning. In 1696 Bernoulli solved the equation, now called the Bernoulli differential equation.

10. He Is Daniel Bernoulli’s Uncle

Portrait of Daniel Bernoulli, c.1720-1725 – By Unknown Author, Edited by Bammesk – Wikipedia

The Bernoulli family has produced not two but three famous mathematicians. Other than his brother Johann Bernoulli, Daniel his nephew (Johann’s son) is also a famous mathematician. Daniel formulated the Bernoulli principle which involves the speed and properties of liquid or gas.