Recently, Eduard de Jager (University of Amsterdam)
posted a very nice
overview paper on the archives discussing the
origins of the Korteweg-de Vries equations. He provides a taster for
the readership of DSWeb Magazine, which is a free translation by Hinke
Osinga of a related shorter article of Eduard de Jager that was
published in July 2004 in the Dutch magazine
ITW
Nieuws (News in Industrial and Applied Mathematics).