A BRIEF HISTORY OF FLUID MECHANICS 1 One of the first engineering problems humankind faced as cities were developed was the supply of water for domestic use and irrigation of crops. Our urban lifestyles can be retained only with abundant water, and it is clear from archeology that every successful civilization of prehistory invested in the construction and maintenance of water systems. The Roman aqueducts, some of which are still in use, are the best known examples. However, perhaps the most impressive engineering from a technical viewpoint was done at the Hellenistic city of Pergamon in present-day Turkey. There, from 283 to 133 bc, they built a series of pressurized lead and clay pipelines (Fig. 1–9), up to 45 km long that operated at pressures exceeding 1.7 MPa (180 m of head). Unfortunately, the names of almost all these early builders are lost to history. The earliest recognized contribution to fluid mechanics theory was made by the Greek mathematician Archimedes (285–212 bc...
