Bernoulli

American  

[ber-noo-lee, ber-noo-lee, ber-noo-yee] / bərˈnu li, bɛrˈnu li, bɛr nuˈyi /

Or Bernouilli

noun

1. Daniel 1700–82, Swiss physicist and mathematician born in the Netherlands (son of Johann Bernoulli).

2. Jakob or Jacques 1654–1705, Swiss mathematician and physicist.

3. Johann or Jean 1667–1748, Swiss mathematician (brother of Jakob Bernoulli).

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Bernoulli British  

/ bɛrˈnʊli, bɛrnuji /

noun

1. Daniel (danjɛl), son of Jean Bernoulli. 1700–82, Swiss mathematician and physicist, who developed an early form of the kinetic theory of gases and stated the principle of conservation of energy in fluid dynamics

2. Jacques (ʒɑk) or Jakob (ˈjaːkɔp). 1654–1705, Swiss mathematician, noted for his work on calculus and the theory of probability

3. his brother, Jean (ʒɑ̃) or Johann (joˈhan). 1667–1748, Swiss mathematician who developed the calculus of variations

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Bernoulli Scientific  

/ bər-no̅o̅′lē /

1. Family of Swiss mathematicians. Jacques (or Jakob) (1654–1705) was a major developer of calculus and made an important contribution to probability theory. His brother Jean (or Johann) (1667–1748) also developed calculus and contributed to the study of complex numbers and trigonometry. Jean's son Daniel (1700–1782) pioneered the modern field of hydrodynamics and anticipated the kinetic theory of gases, indicating that gas pressure would increase with increasing energy. He was also one of the first scientists to understand the concept of conservation of energy.

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Other Word Forms

• Bernoullian
  adjective

Example Sentences

Reading from nose to tail, these coves generate the fluid character lines along the doors that bend toward each other, per Bernoulli.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026

Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli had a go of it in 1738, well before planes were even a reality.

From Salon • Aug. 9, 2021

Neither Bernoulli nor Newton was consciously trying to explain what holds aircraft up, of course, because they lived long before the actual development of mechanical flight.

From Scientific American • Feb. 4, 2020

To prove it, Lovelace wrote what is often regarded as the first computer program in history, an algorithm with which the Analytical Engine would calculate the Bernoulli sequence of numbers.

From New York Times • Feb. 13, 2019

L’Hôpital bought himself the best teacher that money could buy: Johann Bernoulli, a Swiss mathematician and one of the early masters of Leibniz’s calculus of infinitesimals.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife