According to Victor Alexandrov, the head of the Chair of Higher Mathematics at the Physics Department of Novosibirsk State University, in his enthralling lecture Professor Perez explained how Lagrange managed with the equations of celestial mechanics, how he has passed from Mechanics, built on the notion of power, to Mechanics, built on the concept of energy, and how the notion, which is now known as hamiltonian, has appeared and was used in his works.
The lecture contained interesting facts from the life of Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736-1813) and from the history of physics. Jerome Perez demonstrated pictures of old books and original historical documents related to the topic of the lecture. Professor Perez stressed that the current tradition, which links the notion of hamiltonian with the name of William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865), is not substantiated. He argued that this notion was introduced and used effectively in famous Lagrange's book <Analytical Mechanics>, published when Hamilton was six years old only. After the lecture Jerome Perez answered students' questions.
The lecture by Professor Jerome Perez held during the visit of a French delegation whose aim was the presentation of the Higher Schools of Paris Tech and selection of students of the Novosibirsk State University for the «double degree» program.
