Johann (II) Bernoulli h2>
Born: 28 May 1710 in Basel, Switzerland p>
Died: 17 July 1790 in Basel, Switzerland p>
Johann (II) Bernoulli was one of three sons of Johann Bernoulli. In fact he was the most
successful of the three. He originally studied law and in 1727 he obtained the
degree of doctor of jurisprudence. p>
He worked on mathematics both with his father and as
an independent worker. He had the remarkable distinction of winning the Prize
of the Paris Academy on no less than four separate occasions. On the strength
of this he was appointed to his father's chair in Basel when Johann Bernoulli died. p>
However, quoting: - p>
... thereafter his mathematical production dwindled to
occasional academic papers and a treatise, although he lived to almost as old
as his father. His shyness and frail constitution did not, however, prevent him
from engaging in extensive scientific correspondence (about 900 items) and from
furthering the publication, in four volumes, of his father's Opera Omnia. He
personified the mathematical genius of his native city in the second half of
the eighteenth century. p>
Johann (II) Bernoulli worked mainly on heat and light. p>
Maupertuis,
who was President of the Berlin Academy, was accused by Samuel K