Bernoulli, Jakob

Jakob Bernoulli, (born January 6, 1655 [December 27, 1654, Old Style], Basel, Switzerland—died August 16, 1705, Basel), first of the Bernoulli family of Swiss mathematicians. He introduced the first principles of the calculus of variation. Bernoulli numbers, a concept that he developed, were named for him.

The scion of a family of drug merchants, Jakob Bernoulli was compelled to study theology but became interested in mathematics despite his father’s opposition. His travels led to a wide correspondence with mathematicians. Refusing a church appointment, he accepted a professorial chair of mathematics at the University of Basel in 1687; and, following his mastery of the mathematical works of John Wallis, Isaac Barrow (both English), René Descartes (French), and G.W. Leibniz, who first drew his attention to calculus, he embarked upon original contributions. In 1690 Bernoulli became the first to use the term integral in analyzing a curve of descent. His 1691 study of the catenary, or the curve formed by a chain suspended between its two extremities, was soon applied in the building of suspension bridges. In 1695 he also applied calculus to the design of bridges. During these years, he often engaged in disputes with his brother Johann Bernoulli over mathematical issues.

Jakob Bernoulli’s pioneering work Ars Conjectandi (published posthumously, 1713; “The Art of Conjecturing”) contained many of his finest concepts: his theory of permutations and combinations; the so-called Bernoulli numbers, by which he derived the exponential series; his treatment of mathematical and moral predictability; and the subject of probability—containing what is now called the Bernoulli law of large numbers, basic to all modern sampling theory. His works were published as Opera Jacobi Bernoullii, 2 vol. (1744).