Abstract
The earliest examples of theories of complex machines date from the eighteenth century. A fairly abstract, purely mathematical theory of machines was formulated by Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis in 1829. In 1833 the mathematical physicist Siméon-Denis Poisson published his own reflections on this subject. His outline of a general theory of machines appeared in an appendix the development of nineteenth-century theoretical physics, Poisson’s ideas (mainly inspired by Coriolis) are worth a closer look.
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Notes
- 1.
For al history of machines, see [1].
- 2.
- 3.
On the history of mechanics during the eighteenth century, see [4] and references therein.
- 4.
On the life and works of Coriolis, see [7].
- 5.
The work-kinetic energy theorem states that in any displacement of a body, the change in the kinetic energy is equal to the work done by the forces.
- 6.
The “quantity of action” is what we now call “work”, while the “living force” is our “kinetic energy”.
- 7.
On Coriolis’ paper see [8].
- 8.
The principle of moment of momentum states that the rate of change of moment of momentum of a system about any fixed origin is equal to the sum of the moments of the external forces about that origin.
- 9.
- 10.
For the sake of references I will use the English translation A Treatise of Mechanics, transl, by the Rev. Henry H. Harte (London & Dublin 1842). It must be noted, however, that this translation is sometimes strange and clumsy to modern eyes. For example, Harte employs the term cipher, which comes from the non-classical Latin word cifra and in turn from the Arabic word ṣifr, to denote the number zero (see p. 628).
- 11.
Interestingly, Poisson had refereed Coriolis’ paper.
- 12.
On the discovery of the conservation of energy, see [12].
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Acknowledgment
The author wishes to thank Vittorio Marchis (Politecnico di Torino) for his advice and encouragement. Thanks are also due to the referees, whose most valuable remarks greatly improved the final presentation of the text. The usual responsibility for facts and opinion remains with the author.
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Caparrini, S. (2022). Siméon-Denis Poisson’s Theory of Machines (1833). In: Quaglia, G., Gasparetto, A., Petuya, V., Carbone, G. (eds) Proceedings of I4SDG Workshop 2021. I4SDG 2021. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 108. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87383-7_64
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