Historically Speaking—: The Bernoulli Family*
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There is a general rule to the effect that any given family possesses at most one outstanding mathematician and that, in fact, most families possess none. Thus a search through the ancestors, descendents, and relatives of Isaac Newton fails to turn up any other great mathematician. There are exceptions to this general rule. For example we have, here in the United States, the two Lehmers (father and son) and the two Birkhoffs (father and son). One also recalls the two Cassinis (father and son) of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and perhaps one can build a case for the two Clairaut children of the eighteenth century. And of course there were Theon and Hypatia (father and daughter), who lived during the closing years of ancient Greek mathematics. But such cases are relatively rare. All the more striking, then, is the Bernoulli family of Switzerland, which in three successive generations produced no less than eight noted mathematicians.
Contributor Notes
* Largely adapted from the author's An Introduction to the History of Mathematics (revised edition), Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1964.
