La naissance de la mécanique analytique dans le réseau épistolaire de Pierre Varignon (1690–1710) : nouvelles pistes de recherche

There is no doubt that Varignon played a fundamental role in the birth of analytical mechanics. In this chapter I propose to illustrate the contribution of other mathematicians of his time; some great, some minor. I will focus on the problem of central forces, which attracted the attention of the best European mathematicians in the period under consideration. The translation of Newtonian mechanics into the language of differential and integral calculus, and into that of the method of fluxions and quadrature of curves, occupied many mathematicians belonging to Varignon’s network of correspondents. The results obtained by them are considerable. It is highly probable that these results were circulated. The hypothesis, confirmed by the study of his correspondence with Jean Bernoulli, is that Varignon was able to acquire information, which he then systematised in his articles published in the Mémoires of the Academy.