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Johann Bernoulli photo by Johann Rudolf Huber-

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Johann Bernoulli

Johann Bernoulli who is also known as Jean or John was a Swiss mathematician and one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family.

However, Johann is also known for his contributions to infinitesimal Calculus and for educating Leonhard Euler in the pupil鈥檚 youth.

He also studied the reflection and refraction of light. Johann is the brother of Jacob Bernoulli the father of Daniel Bernoulli, Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Johann II Bernoulli, and the uncle of Nicolaus I Bernoulli. Here are the top ten Interesting facts about Johann Bernoulli.

1. Johann Bernoulli’s father desired he Studied Business

Johann Bernoulli photo by Johann Jakob Haid-

Johann was born in Basel and he is the son of Nicolaus Bernoulli an apothecary and his wife Margarethe Schongauer.

His father desired that he study business so that he might take over the family spice trade but Johann Bernoulli did not like business and convinced his father to allow him to study medicine instead.

Johann began studying mathematics on the side with his older brother Jacob Bernoulli.

2. Johann and Jacob Bernoulli were the First Mathematicians to Study and understand Calculus

Johann Bernoulli photo by Rijksmuseum-

Throughout Johann Bernoulli鈥檚 education at Basel University the Bernoulli brothers worked together spending much of their time studying the newly discovered infinitesimal calculus.

They were among the first mathematicians to not only study and understand calculus but to apply it to various problems.

And in 196- he completed a degree dissertation in medicine reviewed by Leibniz whose title was De Motu musculorum et de effervescent et fermentation.

3. In 1713 in the Leibniz-Newton Debate, Johann sided with Leibniz

Johann Bernoulli photo by Jean-

As a student of Leibniz鈥檚 calculus, Johann sided with him in 1713 in the Leibniz-Newton debate over who deserved credit for the discovery of calculus.

Johann defended Leibniz by showing that he had solved certain problems with his methods that Newton had failed to solve.

Johann also promoted Descartes’s vortex theory over Newton鈥檚 theory of gravitation. This ultimately delayed the acceptance of Newton鈥檚 theory in continental Europe.  

4. He entered a Competition sponsored by the French Academie Royale des Sciences

Johann Bernoulli photo by Unknown-

In 1724 Johann entered a competition sponsored by the French Academie Royale des Sciences which posed the question: what are the laws according to which a perfectly hard body put into motion moves another body of the same nature either at rest or in motion and which it encounters either in a vacuum or in a plenum?

In defending a view previously espoused by Leibniz he found himself postulating an infinite external force required to make the body elastic by overcoming the infinite internal force making the body hard.

In consequence, he was disqualified for the prize which was won by Maclaurin.

However, Johann鈥檚 paper was subsequently accepted in 1726 when the Academie considered papers regarding elastic bodies for which the prize was awarded to Pierre Maziere. Johann received an honorable mention in both competitions.  

5. Johann had a Jealous Competitive Character

Although Johann and his brother Jacob Bernoulli worked together before Johann graduated from Basel University shortly after this the two developed a jealous and competitive relationship.

Johann was jealous of Jacob鈥檚 position and the two often attempted to outdo each other.

However, after Jacob鈥檚 death, Johann鈥檚 jealousy shifted toward his own talented son Daniel.

And in 1738 the father-son duo nearly simultaneously published separate works on hydrodynamics and Johann attempted to take precedence over his son by purposely and falsely predating his work two years prior to his son鈥檚.

6. He presented his brother Jacob鈥檚 work as his own just to be Relevant

The Bernoulli brothers often worked on the same problems but not without friction.

Their most bitter dispute concerned the brachistochrone curve problem or the equation for the path followed by a particle from one point to another in the shortest amount of time if the particle is acted upon by gravity alone.

Johann presented the problem in 1696 offering a reward for its solution.

Entering the challenge Johann proposed the cycloid the path of a point on a moving wheel also pointing out the relation this curve bears to the path taken by a ray of light passing through layers of varied density.

Jacob proposed the same solution but Johann鈥檚 derivation of the solution was incorrect and he presented his brother Jacob鈥檚 derivation as his own.

7. Johann was hired by Guillaume de I鈥橦opital for Tutoring in Mathematics

Johann was hired by Guillaume de I鈥橦opital for tutoring mathematics. Interestingly Johann and I鈥橦opital signed a contract that gave I鈥橦opital the right to use Johann鈥檚 discoveries as he pleased.

L鈥橦opital authored the first textbook on infinitesimal calculus Analyse des Infiniment Petits pour I鈥橧ntelligence des Lignes Courbes in 1696 which mainly consisted of the work of Johann including what is now known as I鈥橦opital鈥檚 rule.  

8. In the book, Analyse des Infiniment Petits Pour I鈥檌ntelligence des Lignes Courbes Johann complains he had not received enough Credit

Subsequently, in letters to Leibniz, Varignon and others Johann complained that he had not received enough credit for his contributions in spite of the preface of his book: 鈥�I recognize I owe much to the insights of the Messrs. Bernoulli especially to those of the younger [John] currently a professor in Groningen.

I did unceremoniously use their discoveries as well as those of Mr. Leibniz. For this reason, I consent that they claim as much credit please and will content myself with what they will agree to leave me.鈥�

9. The Bernoulli family came from Antwerp

The Bernoulli family came originally from Antwerp at the time in the Spanish Netherlands but emigrated to escape the Spanish persecution of the protestants.

After a brief period in Frankfurt, the family moved to Basel in Switzerland.

10. He is the Uncle of Nicolaus I Bernoulli

Johann is the uncle of Nicolaus I Bernoulli who was a Swiss mathematician and one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family.

Nicolaus, I Bernoulli was the son of Nicolaus Bernoulli who was a painter and Alderman of Basel.