Very good question. Thomas Young had virtually nothing to do with the concept of what is now known as Young's modulus. According to Truesdell, this idea can be traced to a manuscript by Leonhard Euler written 1727-- eighty years before Young introduced into literature his version of "height of modulus" and "weight of modulus". In this work, Euler had explained the modulus and used it in a paper published in 1766. Therefore, it would have been more appropriate if E had been referred to as "Euler modulus".
You can read mre about this in the Experimental Foundations of Solid Mechanics by James Bell (page 161).
Unfortunately, it is sometimes the case in science that the person who discovers something doesn't get properly credited.
Very good question. Thomas
Very good question. Thomas Young had virtually nothing to do with the concept of what is now known as Young's modulus. According to Truesdell, this idea can be traced to a manuscript by Leonhard Euler written 1727-- eighty years before Young introduced into literature his version of "height of modulus" and "weight of modulus". In this work, Euler had explained the modulus and used it in a paper published in 1766. Therefore, it would have been more appropriate if E had been referred to as "Euler modulus".
You can read mre about this in the Experimental Foundations of Solid Mechanics by James Bell (page 161).
Unfortunately, it is sometimes the case in science that the person who discovers something doesn't get properly credited.