Jean-Baptiste-Marie Charles Meusnier de la Place (1754--1793): An historical note

DOI10.1007/BF00420830MaRDI QIDQ1370068zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Clifford Truesdell

Publication date 14 December 1997

Published in Meccanica (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00420830

zbMATH Keywords

history of surface theoryMeusnier

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 18th century (01A50) History of differential geometry (53-03)

Review text

At the age of twenty-one Meusnier introduced osculating quadric surfaces to discuss the curvature of general surfaces. In addition to the theorem bearing his name, he introduced the second fundamental form, showed that minimal surfaces are characterized by vanishing mean curvature, and discovered that the right helicoid is a minimal surface. -- Brief biographical notes, description of work in aerostatics (balloons), useful references.

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