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Euler E413: On the propulsion of ships without the force of wind | English translation | OMH v1.0

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Complete English translation of Leonhard Euler’s De promotione navium sine vi venti (On the propulsion of ships without the force of wind), Eneström E413, published in Recueil des pièces qui ont remporté les prix de l’Académie royale des sciences, volume VIII (Paris, 1771), pp. 1–47; submitted for the 1753 prize. This newly reconstructed 34-page edition preserves all 145 numbered sections and both complete original plates containing eleven figures. It covers human effort, paddle and oblique-blade propulsion, water reaction, hydraulic flow and pumping arrangements. Historical notation is modernized typographically while the argument and physical model are retained; printed mathematical and numerical defects and editorial corrections are explicitly disclosed. This is a fresh reconstruction, not a recovered copy of the earlier English package. AI use and review status: OpenAI tools assisted with translation and LaTeX. Version 1.0 is a machine draft with limited scholarly human inspection. Version 2.0 is reserved for a fully reviewed edition. A separate independent AI source, mathematical and rendered-page audit passed; no independent human scholarly review is claimed. Sources: Euler Archive, https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/euler-works/413/; Natural History Museum Library/Biodiversity Heritage Library witness, https://archive.org/details/recueildespdes08acad. The eighteenth-century text is public domain. The source metadata states that BHL considers the volume no longer under copyright protection; this is a source-specific assessment, not a blanket license for scan or metadata rights. The original plates are reproduced from that witness with attribution, and no exclusive rights in the historical material are claimed. CC BY 4.0 applies to the new English translation and typesetting, with historical source material separately attributed. English edition: Vaibhav Shakya, Open Math Heritage.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23448143
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7222891010
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