The collaboration between Korteweg and de Vries -- An enquiry into personalities

Abstract

In the course of the years the names of Korteweg and de Vries have come to be closely associated. The equation which is named after them plays a fundamental role in the theory of non-linear partial differential equations. What are the origins of the doctoral dissertation of De Vries and of the Korteweg-de Vries paper? Bastiaan Willink, a distant relative of both of these mathematicians, has sought to answer these questions. This article is based on a lecture delivered by the author at the symposium dedicated to Korteweg and de Vries at University of Amsterdam in September 2003.