Samuel König

Johann Samuel König

Born: 15 July 1712 in Büdingen, Germany
Died: 21 Aug 1757 in Zuilenstein (near Amerongen), Netherlands

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Samuel König studied under Johann Bernoulli and Daniel Bernoulli in Basel. Along with Clairaut and Maupertuis he studied Newton's work and that of Leibniz. He wrote on dynamics and practised law (which earned him more money than mathematics).

Exiled from Bern for 10 years because he signed a liberal petition, he obtained a chair in the Netherlands. König wrote an essay, published in 1751, on the principle of least action, attacking Maupertuis accusing him of having plagiarized Leibniz's work on this principle. A heated dispute followed, everyone agreeing with König except Maupertuis and Euler.

A kinetic law of energy is named after König.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. O Spiess, Leonard Euler (Frauenfeld-Leipzig, 1929), 126-. 
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JOC/EFR February 1996