A wonderful account (now in Dover print) is “A History and Philosophy of Fluid Mechanics” by
G.A. Tokaty [111]. He points out that while early cultures may not have had universities, government
sponsored labs, or privately funded centers pursuing fluids research (nor the Living Reviews archive on
which to communicate results!), there was certainly some collective understanding. After all, there is a clear
connection between the viability of early civilizations and their access to water. For example, we have the
societies associated with the Yellow and Yangtze rivers in China, the Ganges in India, the Volga in Russia,
the Thames in England, and the Seine in France, to name just a few. We should also not forget the
Babylonians and their amazing technological (irrigation) achievements in the land between the Tigris and
Euphrates, and the Egyptians, whose intimacy with the flooding of the Nile is well documented. In
North America, we have the so-called Mississippians, who left behind their mound-building
accomplishments. For example, the Cahokians (in Collinsville, Illinois) constructed Monk’s
Mound, the largest pre-Columbian earthen structure in existence that is “…over 100 feet tall,
1000 feet long, and 800 feet wide (larger at its base than the Great Pyramid of Giza)” (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk's_Mound).
In terms of ocean and sea travel, we know that the maritime ability of the Mediterranean people was a main mechanism for ensuring cultural and economic growth and societal stability. The finely-tuned skills of the Polynesians in the South Pacific allowed them to travel great distances, perhaps reaching as far as South America, and certainly making it to the “most remote spot on the Earth”, Easter Island. Apparently, they were remarkably adept at reading the smallest of signs – water color, views of weather on the horizon, subtleties of wind patterns, floating objects, birds, etc. – as indication of nearby land masses. Finally, the harsh climate of the North Atlantic was overcome by the highly accomplished Nordic sailors, whose skills allowed them to reach several sites in North America. Perhaps it would be appropriate to think of these early explorers as adept geophysical fluid dynamicists/oceanographers?
Many great scientists are associated with the study of fluids. Lost are the names of those individuals
who, almost 400,000 years ago, carved “aerodynamically correct” [46] wooden spears. Also lost are those
who developed boomerangs and fin-stabilized arrows. Among those not lost is Archimedes,
the Greek mathematician (287 – 212 BC), who provided a mathematical expression for the
buoyant force on bodies. Earlier, Thales of Miletus (624 – 546 BC) asked the simple question:
What is air and water? His question is profound since it represents a clear departure from the
main, myth-based modes of inquiry at that time. Tokaty ranks Hero of Alexandria as one of the
great, early contributors. Hero (c. 10 – 70) was a Greek scientist and engineer, who left behind
many writings and drawings that, from today’s perspective, indicate a good grasp of basic fluid
mechanics. To make complete account of individual contributions to our present understanding
of fluid dynamics is, of course, impossible. Yet it is useful to list some of the contributors to
the field. We provide a highly subjective “timeline” in Figure 1. Our list is to a large extent
focussed on the topics covered in this review, and includes chemists, engineers, mathematicians,
philosophers, and physicists. It recognizes those who have contributed to the development of
non-relativistic fluids, their relativistic counterparts, multi-fluid versions of both, and exotic phenomena
such as superfluidity. We have provided this list with the hope that the reader can use these
names as key words in a modern, web-based literature search whenever more information is
required.
Tokaty [111] discusses the human propensity for destruction when it comes to our water resources. Depletion and pollution are the main offenders. He refers to a “Battle of the Fluids” as a struggle between their destruction and protection. His context for this discussion was the Cold War. He rightly points out the failure to protect our water and air resources by the two predominant participants – the USA and USSR. In an ironic twist, modern study of the relativistic properties of fluids has also a “Battle of the Fluids”. A self-gravitating mass can become absolutely unstable and collapse to a black hole, the ultimate destruction of any form of matter.
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