EULER, LEONHARD. - ON MAUPERTUIS' PRINCIPLE OF LEAST ACTION

Lettre de M. Euler a M. Merian. (+) Expose concernant L'Examen de la Lettre de M. de Leibnitz, alleguée par M. Le Prof. Koenig, dans le Mois de Mars, 1751, des Actes de Leipzig a l'Occassion du Principe de la Moindre Action.

(Berlin, Haude et Spener, 1752). 4to. No wrappers, as issued in "Mémoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres", 1750, tome VI, Titlepage to the section. (3), pp. 520-532 (+) pp. 52-64 (Expose).

In 1751, Maupertuis' priority for the principle of least action was challenged in print (Nova Acta Eruditorum of Leipzig) by an old acquaintance, Johann Samuel Koenig, who quoted a 1707 letter purportedly from Leibniz that described results similar to those derived by Euler in 1744. However, Maupertuis and others demanded that Koenig produce the original of the letter to authenticate its having been written by Leibniz. Koenig only had a copy and no clue as to the whereabouts of the original. Consequently, the Berlin Academy under Euler's direction declared the letter to be a forgery and that its President Maupertuis could continue to claim priority for having invented the principle.

Enestroem: 182.

Order-nr.: 46426