Coulomb read his Essai on ‘some statical problems’ to the French Academy in 1773. It is a document of great importance in the history of engineering since it laid the foundations of the modern science of soil mechanics and also discussed three other major problems of eighteenth-century civil engineering: the bending of beams, the fracture of columns and the calculation of abutment thrusts developed by masonry arches.Professor Heyman’s book makes the Essai accessible to a wide range of engineers and historians of technology. It is here reproduced in full with an annotated English translation, a chapter elucidating Coulomb’s references and with full discussion of the technical problems it treats. It concludes with some brief historical notes on Coulomb’s life and technical education in eighteenth-century France.
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