The Moens-Korteweg formula for the speed of propagation of pressure waves dates back to 1878 and was used by Kries in haemodynamics and Frizell, Joukowsky, Allievi and others in waterhammer to calculate the pressure variations in unsteady pipe flows. This paper describes the life and work of Dutchmen Isebree Moens and Korteweg. Their doctoral dissertations (in Dutch) are partly translated, reviewed and compared with their key publications (in German). Korteweg gave Moens’ semi-empirical wavespeed a mathematical basis and he made the first contributions toward the study of fluid-structure interaction and unsteady friction. Their work is placed in historical context, in terms of both their predecessors and contemporaries, and also how it was subsequently built on by their successors in different disciplines
