" +"
" + what + "

");} function trans(what,n) {puw = window.open("","win2", "toolbar=0,status=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,resizable=1,menubar=0,screenx=10,screeny=10,width=400,height=100"); if (window.focus) {puw.focus()} puw.document.writeln("Translation " + n + " " +"
" + what + "

");} function linkback(url) {window.opener.document.location.href=url;self.close();}

Nicolaus(II) Bernoulli


Born: 6 February 1695 in Basel, Switzerland
Died: 31 July 1726 in St Petersburg, Russia

Click the picture above
to see a larger version

Show birthplace location

Main Index Biographies index

Version for printing


Nicolaus(II) Bernoulli was the favourite of three sons of Johann Bernoulli. He entered the University of Basel when only 13 years of age and, like many other members of his family, studied both mathematics and law. In 1715 he became a licentiate in jurisprudence.

Nicolaus worked as his father's assistant helping him with correspondence. In particular he was involved with writing letters concerning the famous priority dispute between Newton and Leibniz. He not only replied to Taylor regarding the dispute but he also made important mathematical contributions to the problem of trajectories while working on the mathematical arguments behind the dispute.

Nicolaus worked on curves, differential equations and probability. He died only 8 months after taking up an appointment in St Petersburg at a young age when his talents promised so much for the future. Fleckstein writes in [1]:-

With his brother Daniel he travelled in France and Italy, where both received appointments to the St Petersburg Academy. Within a year, however, he contracted and died of a hectic fever.

Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson

Click on this link to see a list of the Glossary entries for this page


List of References (5 books/articles)

A Poster of Nicolaus(II) Bernoulli

Mathematicians born in the same country

Additional Material in MacTutor

  1. Bernoulli family tree

Cross-references in MacTutor

  1. History Topics: The fundamental theorem of algebra

Other Web sites
  1. MathSciNet Author profile

Main Index Biographies index

JOC/EFR © October 1997
Copyright information
School of Mathematics and Statistics
University of St Andrews, Scotland

The URL of this page is:
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Bernoulli_Nicolaus(II).html