Analysis and geometry, the history of space curves from Clairaut to Darboux (Q540715)

Starting with the first decades of the 18th century, geometers have been interested in the major role played by the notions of curvature and torsion in the understanding of the geometry of either planar or space curves. Taken together, the curvature and the torsion of a space curve are analogous to the curvature of a planar curve. This paper is mainly devoted to the history of space curves, in strong relationship with the notion of curve with double curvature. The roots of this notion go back to Alexis Claude de Clairaut (1731). Clairaut's work was continued by Gaspard Monge (inventor of descriptive geometry), who was deeply interested in the relationship between analysis and geometry. Important applications of the notion of double curvature of a curve may be found in the formulae established by Serret and Frenet, as well as in the interpretation found by Gaston Darboux in 1887. This reviewer appreciates that the paper under review contains a thorough analysis of some important facts in the history of differential geometry of curves and surfaces.