Through the centuries, the intricacies of fluid mechanics -- the study of the laws of motion and fluids in motion -- have occupied many of history's greatest minds. In this pioneering account, a distinguished aeronautical scientist presents a history of fluid mechanics focusing on the achievements of the pioneering scientists and thinkers whose inspirations and experiments lay behind the evolution of such disparate devices as irrigation lifts, ocean liners, windmills, fireworks and spacecraft.
The author first presents the basics of fluid mechanics, then explores the advances made...