The Supports Problem: A Dead-End Street in the History of Stability of Structures

Philippe de la HireLa Hire, Philippe de addressed a problem in 1695 that marked the birth of the study of elastic systems. This was the so-called “supports problem”, and it was dealt with by a great number of scientists and mathematicians, including Johann BernoulliBernoulli, Johann, VarignonVarignon, Pierre, RiccatiRiccati, Vincenzo, EulerEuler, Leonhard, d’AlembertD’Alembert, Jean-Baptiste Le Rond, and LagrangeLagrange, Joseph-Louis in the eighteenth century, and PoinsotPoinsot, Louis, VenturoliVenturoli, Giuseppe, NavierNavier, Claude-Louis, FagnoliFagnoli, Giuseppe, and LaméLamé, Gabriel in the nineteenth. In this chapter we look at this important problem, which marked the birth of the study of elastic systems and became a part of structural engineering.