A translation of G.W. Krafft's "On a new class of oscillations"

TL;DR

This paper provides a Latin translation of Krafft's work on a new class of oscillations, highlighting its historical influence on Euler's derivation of the harmonic oscillator equation.

Contribution

It offers the first English translation of Krafft's Latin treatise, illustrating its role in the development of oscillation theory and Euler's subsequent work.

Findings

Historical insight into early oscillation studies

Connection between Krafft's observations and Euler's equations

Highlights the evolution of harmonic oscillator theory

Abstract

This is a translation from Latin of 'De novo oscillationum genere', which was motivated by Krafft's accidental observation of a suspended clock setting itself in constant motion as a pendulum. This publication, in turn, motivated Euler to write 'De novo genere oscillationum', in which Euler derived for the first time, the differential equation for the (undamped) simple harmonic oscillator under harmonic excitation.