Die Werke von Johann I und Nicolaus II Bernoulli

Johann studied medicine at Basel and was introduced to mathematics by his elder brother Jacob. Both brothers successfully taught themselves Leibniz's calculus and forged it into a powerful tool for solving several of the most difficult mathematical problems of their time. As a result of his private lectures with Johann, the Marquis de l'Hôpital was encouraged to write the first textbook on calculus, the Analyse des infiniment petits (1696). In 1695, Johann Bernoulli was appointed to the chair of mathematics at Groningen; when his brother Jacob died in 1705, Johann became his successor at Basel. From there he disseminated the methods and results of his research through teaching, publishing and corresponding with mathematicians and scientists throughout Europe. Among his disciples he could count, in addition to three of his sons, Maupertuis, Cramer, Clairaut and, most notably, Euler. Johann Bernoulli was also involved in most of the public scientific controversies of the time; among his adversar ies we find his brother Jacob and his son Daniel, the English school of Newton's followers as well as some of Johann's own former disciples. Acknowledged after the deaths of Leibniz and Newton as the foremost mathematician of his time, Johann Bernoulli died in Basel in 1748.