ALEMBERT, Jean Le Rond d’. Reflexions sur la Cause generale des Vents. Piéce qui a remporté le Prix proposé par l'Académie Royale des Sciences de Berlin, pour l'Année 1746. 1747.

Paris, David l'aîné, 1747.

4to (214x159 mm), (8)-xxviii-194-138 pages and 2 folding plates.  binding : Contemporary full mottled calf, spine gilt in six compartments, title in gilt on lettering-piece, red edges, marbled endpapers. Joints and caps with skillful leather restoration. Some foxing. 

references: Norman [34 : "Alembert’s treatise on winds contained the first general use of partial differential equations in mathematical physics, a technique later perfected by Euler."], DSB [I, p. 113 : "In 1747 d'Alembert published two more important works, one of which, the Réflexions sur la cause générale des vents, won a prize from the Prussian Academy. In it appeared the first general use of partial differential equations in mathematical physics. Euler later perfected the techniques of using these equations. The pattern was to become a familiar one : d'Alembert, Daniel Bernoulli, or Clairaut would pioneer a technique, and Euler would take it far beyond their capacity to develop it. D'Alembert's treatise on winds was the only one of his works honored by a prize and ironically, was later shown to be based on insufficient assumptions. D'Alembert assumed that wind patterns were the result of tidal effects on the atmosphere, and he relegated the influence of heat to a minor role, one that caused only local variations from the general circulation. Still, as a work on atmospheric tides it was successful, and Lagrange continued to praise d'Alembert's efforts many years later"].

Price : 1500 €