BEGINNINGS

The next step towards a complete edition taken by Spiess was to prepare for publication the correspondence between Johann I and Jacob I (only 4 items extant) as well as the extensive collection of that between Johann I and l'Hôpital, as well as with some Dutch scientists. These two collections were published in one volume in 1955 under the patronage of the Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Basel. This was the first volume of the project to appear. In that first volume, Spiess laid down the exemplary standard for the entire project which would divide into two natural groups—one to include the collected works, the other to include the correspondence—both components being published in parallel.

From the early stages of the project, Spiess enlisted the help of two colleagues in the work, namely H. Straub who undertook the preparation of the complete works of Daniel Bernoulli, and J. O.  Fleckenstein who took responsibility for organizing the early work of Jacob I. On the suggestion of David Speiser, Straub also compiled the comprehensive bibliography of the works of Daniel Bernoulli later published as an Appendix to his article in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography: this bibliography is included in all volumes of the works of Daniel Bernoulli.

By the 1960s, Fleckenstein had the early work of Jacob I ready for the printer and it was under his editorship that the second volume of the project appeared in 1969. It was the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, that provided the sponsorship for the publication of that volume; this same Agency has sponsored the publication of all subsequent volumes of the Bernoulli edition. Very soon after, there came aboard B. L. van der Waerden—originally from the Netherlands but then living in Zürich—who accepted the task of editing the work of Jacob I in Probability—including the Ars Conjectandi. Some years later the organization of this work had been completed by van der Waerden and his two collaborators J. Henny and K. Kohli, and with additional funds provided by Insurance Companies in Switzerland, this work was printed in early 1975 as the third publication of the project.

On the death of Spiess in 1966, Fleckenstein assumed the responsibilities of General Editor, and also set about the organization of the work of Jacob I on Mechanics, with the help of C. S. Roero whom he had enlisted to participate in the work. At this time C. S. Roero was engaged in graduate work in Torino under the direction of T. Viola. Through her influence, Viola became interested and accepted the invitation to join the project. The work of Jacob I on Cartesian Geometry was assigned to Roero, who later had the assistance of T. Viola. Besides this, Fleckenstein had begun the job of sorting and editing the massive correspondence between Johann I and Varignon. On the death of Fleckenstein, the work of Jacob I on Basic Mathematics devolved on Roero, who completed the editorial preparation, while the introduction was written by T. Viola. Meantime, as Straub had passed away in 1972, his responsibilities—the works of Daniel—were transferred to D. Speiser who enlisted the assistance of Mme Patricia Radelet-de Grave. For this many—faceted responsibility, Speiser, in the course of time, assembled a supporting team which included L. Bossy (Louvain), L. P. Bouckaert (Leuven), J. L. Pietenpol (Raleigh, N. C.), F. Rintelen (Basel), C. A. Truesdell (Baltimore, Md.), and B. L. van der Waerden (Zürich). Subsequently others came aboard including A. de Baenst-Vandenbroucke (Namur), U. Bottazzini (Milano), F. Cerulus and A. Lederer (Louvain), A. Englebert (Bruxelles), M. Howald (Dornach), G. K. Mikhailov (Moskva), U. Tröhler and V. Zimmermann (Göttingen).

Ó Mathúna, 1999