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Ludwig Prandtl’s Boundary Layer Theory

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Historical Developments in Singular Perturbations

Abstract

Boundary layer theory formally came into existence in Heidelberg, Germany at 11:30 am on August 12, 1904 when Ludwig Prandtl (1875–1953), a professor (and chair) of mechanics at the Technical University of Hanover (the youngest professor in Prussia according to Bodenschatz and Eckert [49]), gave a ten-minute talk to the Third International Congress of Mathematicians entitled “Über Flüssigkeitsbewegung bei sehr kleiner Reibung” (On Fluid Motion with Small Friction). (Figs. 1.1 and 1.2).

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    Robert E. O’Malley

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O’Malley, R.E. (2014). Ludwig Prandtl’s Boundary Layer Theory. In: Historical Developments in Singular Perturbations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11924-3_1

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