Who is it?: Mathematician
Birth Day: December 27, 1654
Birth Place: Basel, Switzerland, Swiss
Died On: 16 August 1705(1705-08-16) (aged 50)\nBasel, Switzerland
Birth Sign: Capricorn
Residence: Switzerland
Alma mater: University of Basel (D.Th., 1676; Dr. phil. hab., 1684)
Known for: Bernoulli differential equation Bernoulli numbers Bernoulli's formula Bernoulli polynomials Bernoulli map Bernoulli trial Bernoulli process Bernoulli scheme Bernoulli operator Hidden Bernoulli model Bernoulli sampling Bernoulli distribution Bernoulli random variable Bernoulli's Golden Theorem Bernoulli's inequality Lemniscate of Bernoulli
Fields: Mathematics, mechanics
Institutions: University of Basel
Theses: Primi et Secundi Adami Collatio (1676) Solutionem tergemini problematis arithmetici, geometrici et astronomici (Solutions to a triple problem in arithmetics, mathematics and astronomy) (1684)
Doctoral students: Johann Bernoulli Jacob Hermann Nicolaus I Bernoulli
Influences: Nicolas Malebranche

# Jacob Bernoulli Net Worth

Jacob Bernoulli was bornon December 27, 1654 in Basel, Switzerland, Swiss, is Mathematician. Jacob Bernoulli, also known as James or Jacques Bernoulli, was a Swiss mathematician born in the middle of seventeen century in Basel, Switzerland. Although he studied theology and philosophy at university level he was more interested in mathematics and astronomy, which he studied side by side. However, it was only after he received his licentiate in theology that he could concentrate on his favorite subjects. For six or seven years he travelled throughout Europe studying under different scholars, after which he returned to Basel to take up a teaching post at his alma mater. However, he kept in touch with the academics he met during his travel throughout his life. Along with teaching, he started working on various mathematical problems, especially differential calculus as presented by Leibniz. Later, he made significant contribution to the study of calculus and is often referred to as one of the founders of the calculus of variations. Scholars also give equal importance to his works in the field of probability and his derivation of the law of large numbers. He lived for only fifty years, yet he left a huge body of work for posterity.
Jacob Bernoulli is a member of Scientists

## Famous Quotes:

... probability as a measurable degree of certainty; necessity and chance; moral versus mathematical expectation; a priori an a posteriori probability; expectation of winning when players are divided according to dexterity; regard of all available arguments, their valuation, and their calculable evaluation; law of large numbers ...

## Biography/Timeline

1676

Jacob Bernoulli was born in Basel, Switzerland. Following his father's wish, he studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. He traveled throughout Europe from 1676 to 1682, learning about the latest discoveries in mathematics and the sciences under leading figures of the time. This included the work of Johannes Hudde, Robert Boyle, and Robert Hooke. During this time he also produced an incorrect theory of comets.

1683

In 1683 Bernoulli discovered the constant e by studying a question about compound interest which required him to find the value of the following expression (which is in fact e):

1685

Jacob Bernoulli's first important contributions were a pamphlet on the parallels of logic and algebra published in 1685, work on probability in 1685 and geometry in 1687. His geometry result gave a construction to divide any triangle into four equal parts with two perpendicular lines.

1687

He was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Basel in 1687, remaining in this position for the rest of his life. By that time, he had begun tutoring his brother Johann Bernoulli on mathematical topics. The two brothers began to study the calculus as presented by Leibniz in his 1684 paper on the differential calculus in "Nova Methodus pro Maximis et Minimis" published in Acta Eruditorum. They also studied the publications of von Tschirnhaus. It must be understood that Leibniz's publications on the calculus were very obscure to mathematicians of that time and the Bernoullis were among the first to try to understand and apply Leibniz's theories.

1689

By 1689 he had published important work on infinite series and published his law of large numbers in probability theory. Jacob Bernoulli published five treatises on infinite series between 1682 and 1704 The first two of these contained many results, such as the fundamental result that ${\displaystyle \sum {\frac {1}{n}}}$ diverges, which Bernoulli believed were new but they had actually been proved by Mengoli 40 years earlier. Bernoulli could not find a closed form for ${\displaystyle \sum {\frac {1}{n^{2}}}}$, but he did show that it converged to a finite limit less than 2. Euler was the first to find the sum of this series in 1737. Bernoulli also studied the exponential series which came out of examining compound interest.

1690

In May 1690 in a paper published in Acta Eruditorum, Jacob Bernoulli showed that the Problem of determining the isochrone is equivalent to solving a first-order nonlinear differential equation. The isochrone, or curve of constant descent, is the curve along which a particle will descend under gravity from any point to the bottom in exactly the same time, no matter what the starting point. It had been studied by Huygens in 1687 and Leibniz in 1689. After finding the differential equation, Bernoulli then solved it by what we now call separation of variables. Jacob Bernoulli's paper of 1690 is important for the history of calculus, since the term integral appears for the first time with its integration meaning. In 1696 Bernoulli solved the equation, now called the Bernoulli differential equation,

1692

Jacob Bernoulli also discovered a general method to determine evolutes of a curve as the envelope of its circles of curvature. He also investigated caustic curves and in particular he studied these associated curves of the parabola, the logarithmic spiral and epicycloids around 1692. The lemniscate of Bernoulli was first conceived by Jacob Bernoulli in 1694. In 1695 he investigated the drawbridge Problem which seeks the curve required so that a weight sliding along the cable always keeps the drawbridge balanced.

1697

Jacob collaborated with his brother on various applications of calculus. However the atmosphere of collaboration between the two brothers turned into rivalry as Johann's own mathematical genius began to mature, with both of them attacking each other in print, and posing difficult mathematical challenges to test each other's skills. By 1697, the relationship had completely broken down.

1705

Jacob Bernoulli died in 1705. Bernoulli chose a figure of a logarithmic spiral and the motto Eadem mutata resurgo ("Changed and yet the same, I rise again") for his gravestone; the spiral executed by the stonemasons was, however, an Archimedean spiral, “[Jacob Bernoulli] wrote that the logarithmic spiral ‘may be used as a symbol, either of fortitude and constancy in adversity, or of the human body, which after all its changes, even after death, will be restored to its exact and perfect self’.” (Livio 2002: 116). His grave is in Basel Münster where the gravestone shown below is located.

1713

Jacob Bernoulli's most original work was Ars Conjectandi published in Basel in 1713, eight years after his death. The work was incomplete at the time of his death but it is still a work of the greatest significance in the theory of probability. In the book Bernoulli reviewed work of others on probability, in particular work by van Schooten, Leibniz, and Prestet. The Bernoulli numbers appear in the book in a discussion of the exponential series. Many examples are given on how much one would expect to win playing various games of chance. The term Bernoulli trial resulted from this work. There are interesting thoughts on what probability really is: