The origins of water wave theory

After early work by Newton, the eighteenth and early nineteenth century French mathematicians Laplace, Lagrange, Poisson, and Cauchy made real theoretical advances in the linear theory of water waves; in Germany, Gerstner considered nonlinear waves, and the brothers Weber performed fine experiments. Later in Britain during 1837-1847, Russell, Green, Kelland, Airy, and Earnshaw all made substantial contributions, setting the scene for subsequent work by Stokes and others.