Hermann Hankel's "On the general theory of motion of fluids", an essay including an English translation of the complete Preisschrift from 1861

TL;DR

This paper provides an English translation of Hermann Hankel's 1861 work on fluid motion, along with historical context, expert reports, and biographical details, highlighting its significance in fluid dynamics history.

Contribution

It offers the first complete English translation of Hankel's pioneering 1861 manuscript and includes expert assessments and biographical information, enriching historical understanding.

Findings

Translation of Hankel's 1861 manuscript included

Expert reports by Riemann and Weber provided context

Biographical details of Hermann Hankel included

Abstract

The present is a companion paper to "A contemporary look at Hermann Hankel's 1861 pioneering work on Lagrangian fluid dynamics" by Frisch, Grimberg and Villone (2017). Here we present the English translation of the 1861 prize manuscript from G\"ottingen University "Zur allgemeinen Theorie der Bewegung der Fl\"ussigkeiten" (On the general theory of the motion of the fluids) of Hermann Hankel (1839-1873), which was originally submitted in Latin and then translated into German by the Author for publication. We also provide the English translation of two important reports on the manuscript, one written by Bernhard Riemann and the other by Wilhelm Eduard Weber, during the assessment process for the prize. Finally we give a short biography of Hermann Hankel with his complete bibliography.