POISSON, SIMEON PIERRE.

Recherches sur le Mouvement des Projectiles dans L'Air, et ayant égard a leur Figure et leur Rotation, et a L'Influence du Mouvement diurne de la Terre.

Paris, Bachelier, 1839. 4to. Contemporary hcalf, gilt spine with gilt lettering. A paperlabel pasted on spine. Stamps on titlepage. VIII,226,(1) pp. Broadmargined on good paper. Light scattered brownspots.

First edition. Poisson made importent contribution to many categories in mathematics and mathematical physics, "Poisson'sTheorem", the mathematical treatment of attractive forces etc.. "The Recherches sur le Mouvement...projectiles (the item offered) is the first workto deal with the subject by taking into account the rotation of the earth and the complementary acceleration resulting from the motion of the system of reference. A decade after its publication it inspired Focault's famous experiment demonstrating the earth's rotation"(Pierre Costabel in DSB). - In this researchhe extended Lapalce's analysis to allow also for the rotation of the projectile in motion, and it helped Léon Foucault to conceive of his pendulum to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. - The work is a collection of memoirs. "Ce recherches se composent de plusieurs Mémoires lus par l'Auteur à l'Academie des Sciences et insérés dans les XXVIe et XXVIIe cahiers du Journal de l'Ecole Polytechnique." (From verso of halftitle) - Bibliotheca Mechanica p. 261.

Order-nr.: 39951