Definition:Catenary/Historical Note

Historical Note on Catenary
The problem of determining the shape of the catenary was posed in $1690$ by as a challenge.

It had been thought by to be a parabola.

showed in $1646$ by physical considerations that it could not be so, but he failed to establish its exact nature.

In $1691$,, and  all independently published solutions.

It was who gave it the name catenary.

From a letter that wrote in $1718$:
 * The efforts of my brother were without success. For my part, I was more fortunate, for I found the skill (I say it without boasting; why should I conceal the truth?) to solve it in full ... It is true that it cost me study that robbed me of rest for an entire night. It was a great achievement for those days and for the slight age and experience I then had. The next morning, filled with joy, I ran to, who was still struggling miserably with this Gordian knot without getting anywhere, always thinking like  that the catenary was a parabola. Stop! Stop! I say to him, don't torture yourself any more trying to prove the identity of the catenary with the parabola, since it is entirely false.

However, was first to demonstrate that of all possible shapes, the catenary has the lowest center of gravity, and hence the smallest potential energy.

This discovery was significant.