How did Biot arrive at the partial differential equation?
[the heat conduction equation] . . . Perhaps Laplace gave Biot
the equation and left him to sink or swim for a few years in
trying to derive it. That would have been merely an instance
of the way great mathematicians since the very beginnings of
mathematical research have effortlessly maintained their
superiority over ordinary mortals.
-- Clifford Truesdell
