On the early history of Bessel functions (Q1897792)

Bessel published the first systematic investigations on Bessel functions in 1824. Particular cases were explored earlier by Daniel Bernoulli, Euler, Lagrange, Fourier, Poisson and others, in connection with problems such as oscillating chains, vibrating membranes, bending of rods, Kepler's equation and heat conduction. Since 1816, Bessel also developed `Fourier series' independently, by the method of least squares.