While this curve had already been named by other mathematicians , the name `` miraculous '' or `` marvelous '' spiral was given to this curve by Jakob Bernoulli , because he was fascinated by one of its unique mathematical properties : the size of the spiral increases , but the shape stays the same with each added curve . Although this curve had already been named by other mathematicians , the specific name ( `` miraculous '' or `` marvelous '' spiral ) was given to this curve by Jacob Bernoulli , because he was fascinated by one of its unique mathematical properties : the size of the spiral increases but its shape is unaltered with each successive curve , a property known as self-similarity .