Turbulence -- A problem historical survey (Q2425818)

The mathematical description of turbulence flow remains an unsolved problem and thus, as the author asserts, presents the opportunity to look at its historical development without being prejudiced by knowing the ''right answer''. That development is depicted as non-Kuhnian in the sense that there is no sequence of revolutions and normal science. The period studied is 1900--1950 during which the subject became defined by such figures as Sommerfeld, von Mises, Hopf, Prandtl, von Karman, Felix Noether, G.I. Taylor, and A. N. Kolmogorov. One theme is the contradiction between theory and practice, which pervaded thermodynamics in general. The importance of the subject to aerodynamic design in the Second World War gave further impetus to the development. In fact the closeness of the subject with technological and engineering developments is a factor in the history-- -the ability to observe and measure turbulence effects. Also, after the war, instead of agreement on the subject, local and national approaches continued to prevail. The author differs from previous histories especially by introducing a sociological aspect in taking the war, congresses, and lines of communication between local into account.