So far as a formal presentation is concerned, Henry Spiegel [The
Growth of Economic Thought. Duke U. Press, 1991] finds the earliest
MU presentation in Daniel Bernoulli's 1738 treatment of the St.
Petersburg Paradox. An english translation by Louise Sommer is
available as "Exposition of a New Theory on the Measurement of Risk,"
Econometrica, Vol. 22, No. 1 (January 1954), 23-36.
Samuel Bostaph