Fluid mechanics from the beginning to the third millennium
Mohamed Gad‐el‐Hak · 1998
Although the christening of the discipline is a relatively recent undertaking, fluid mechanics goes back to the time of archaic Homo sapiens. The art of fluids in motion was born when quite empirically, unceremoniously and without a hint of what either a fluid or mechanics is, the resourceful inhabitants of the planet Earth discovered that a streamlined object travels farther as compared to a blunt one. Great changes took place during the first half of this century in both the teaching and research of the discipline, and it appears that the subject is set for another upheaval as we approach the third millennium. This paper discusses those past and future evolutions of fluid mechanics. IN THE BEGINNING The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see. (Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, 1874–1965) THIS PAPER is certainly not intended to be a history of the subject, but a few important mile-stones are recalled in this and the next five sections.