History
The formulation of virtual work implements the view the outcome is selected from a set of "tentative" realities in order to minimize a quantity. This is a version of the "simplicity hypothesis" that can be traced to Aristotle. Another form of this hypothesis is Ockham's "razor" which states that "it is futile to employ many principles when it is possible to employ fewer." These ideas illustrate a view of physics that nature optimizes in some way.
Leibnitz formulated Newton's laws of motion in terms of work and kinetic energy, or vis viva (living force), which are minimized as a system moves. Maupertuis adapted Leibnitz's ideas as the principle of least action that nature minimizes action. But it was Euler and Lagrange who provided the mathematical foundation of the calculus of variations and applied it to the study of the statics and dynamics of mechanical systems.
Hamilton's reformulation of the principle of least action and Lagrange's equations yielded a theory of dynamics that is the foundation for modern physics and quantum mechanics.
Read more about this topic: Virtual Work
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.”
—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)
“The greatest honor history can bestow is that of peacemaker.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)
“This above all makes history useful and desirable: it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)