Jakob Bernoulli, also known as Jacques, James, or Jakob I--to avoid any confusion with Jakob Bernoulli II--is one of the great names of 17th-century mathematics as well as the first member of the prodigiously mathematical Bernoulli family to attain international fame. Originally from the Spanish Netherlands, the Bernoullis moved to Basel, Switzerland, in 1583, to escape Spanish oppression; the first prominent Bernoulli was Nikolaus I, Jakob's father. A contemporary of the great German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, with whom he maintained a correspondence, Bernoulli is known for his extraordinary contributions to calculus and the theory of probability.

Bernoulli earned a degree in theology in 1676, having studied mathematics and astronomy against his father's wishes. Employed as a tutor in Geneva in 1676, he later spent two years in France, where he studied the works of René Descartes. In 1681, Bernoulli traveled to the Netherlands and England, where he...