A Study on University Education of Medieval European Mathematicians 1K
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Newton.Indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 14:45 | Pag
omslag Newton.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 14:45 | Pag. 1 e Dutch Republic proved ‘A new light on several to be extremely receptive to major gures involved in the groundbreaking ideas of Newton Isaac Newton (–). the reception of Newton’s Dutch scholars such as Willem work.’ and the Netherlands Jacob ’s Gravesande and Petrus Prof. Bert Theunissen, Newton the Netherlands and van Musschenbroek played a Utrecht University crucial role in the adaption and How Isaac Newton was Fashioned dissemination of Newton’s work, ‘is book provides an in the Dutch Republic not only in the Netherlands important contribution to but also in the rest of Europe. EDITED BY ERIC JORINK In the course of the eighteenth the study of the European AND AD MAAS century, Newton’s ideas (in Enlightenment with new dierent guises and interpre- insights in the circulation tations) became a veritable hype in Dutch society. In Newton of knowledge.’ and the Netherlands Newton’s Prof. Frans van Lunteren, sudden success is analyzed in Leiden University great depth and put into a new perspective. Ad Maas is curator at the Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, the Netherlands. Eric Jorink is researcher at the Huygens Institute for Netherlands History (Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences). / www.lup.nl LUP Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 1 Newton and the Netherlands Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 2 Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. -
Calculation and Controversy
calculation and controversy The young Newton owed his greatest intellectual debt to the French mathematician and natural philosopher, René Descartes. He was influ- enced by both English and Continental commentators on Descartes’ work. Problems derived from the writings of the Oxford mathematician, John Wallis, also featured strongly in Newton’s development as a mathe- matician capable of handling infinite series and the complexities of calcula- tions involving curved lines. The ‘Waste Book’ that Newton used for much of his mathematical working in the 1660s demonstrates how quickly his talents surpassed those of most of his contemporaries. Nevertheless, the evolution of Newton’s thought was only possible through consideration of what his immediate predecessors had already achieved. Once Newton had become a public figure, however, he became increasingly concerned to ensure proper recognition for his own ideas. In the quarrels that resulted with mathematicians like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) or Johann Bernoulli (1667–1748), Newton supervised his disciples in the reconstruction of the historical record of his discoveries. One of those followers was William Jones, tutor to the future Earl of Macclesfield, who acquired or copied many letters and papers relating to Newton’s early career. These formed the heart of the Macclesfield Collection, which has recently been purchased by Cambridge University Library. 31 rené descartes, Geometria ed. and trans. frans van schooten 2 parts (Amsterdam, 1659–61) 4o: -2 4, a-3t4, g-3g4; π2, -2 4, a-f4 Trinity* * College, Cambridge,* shelfmark* nq 16/203 Newton acquired this book ‘a little before Christmas’ 1664, having read an earlier edition of Descartes’ Geometry by van Schooten earlier in the year. -
The Point Mass As a Model for Epistemic Representation
Dipartimento di Scienze Pure e Applicate Corso di Dottorato di Ricerca in Scienze di Base e Applicazioni Ph.D. Thesis THE POINT MASS AS A MODEL FOR EPISTEMIC REPRESENTATION. A HISTORICAL & EPISTEMOLOGICAL APPROACH Tutor: Candidate: Chiar.mo Prof. Vincenzo Fano Dott.ssa Antonella Foligno Curriculum Scienze della Complessità Ciclo XXX – A. A. 2016/2017 Settore Scientifico Disciplinare: M-FIL/02 To Martina and Giada If our highly pointed Triangles of the Soldier class are formidable, it may be readily inferred that far more formidable are our Women. For, if a Soldier is a wedge, a Woman is a needle; being, so to speak, all point, at least at the two extremities. Add to this the power of making herself practically invisible at will, and you will perceive that a Female, in Flatland, is a creature by no means to be trifled with. But here, perhaps, some of my younger Readers may ask how a woman in Flatland can make herself invisible. This ought, I think, to be apparent without any explanation. However, a few words will make it clear to the most unreflecting. Place a needle on the table. Then, with your eye on the level of the table, look at it side-ways, and you see the whole length of it; but look at it end-ways, and you see nothing but a point, it has become practically invisible. Just so is it with one of our Women. When her side is turned towards us, we see her as a straight line; when the end containing her eye or mouth – for with us these two organs are identical – is the part that meets our eye, then we see nothing but a highly lustrous point; but when the back is presented to our view, then – being only sublustrous, and, indeed, almost as dim as an inanimate object – her hinder extremity serves her as a kind of Invisible Cap. -
GALILEO CREATION and COSMOGONY a Study on the Interplay Between Galileo’S Science of Motion and the Creation Theme [M-STO/05, M-FIL/06]
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION GALILEO CREATION AND COSMOGONY A Study on the Interplay between Galileo’s Science of Motion and the Creation Theme [M-STO/05, M-FIL/06] Ph.D. Candidate Ph.D. Coordinator IVAN MALARA Prof. ANDREA PINOTTI Registration number: R11933 JOINT PH.D. SUPERVISORS Università degli Studi di Milano Prof. LUCA BIANCHI Doctoral course in Philosophy and Human Sciences – XXXIII Cycle Prof. ELIO NENCI (Dipartimento di Filosofia “Piero Martinetti”) Gent Universiteit Prof. MAARTEN VAN DYCK Academic Year 2019/2020 È chiaro che il pensiero dà fastidio anche se chi pensa è muto come un pesce anzi è un pesce e come pesce è difficile da bloccare perché lo protegge il mare Com’è profondo il mare LUCIO DALLA, Com’è profondo il mare (1977) Non ’mbrischiare a calia ca ’nzudda (Calabrian saying) Table of contents Abstract English .........................................................................................................VII Italian ..........................................................................................................VIII Dutch.............................................................................................................IX Introduction .............................................................................................................XI PART ONE: CREATION I. Anno 1607: Galileo and Castelli 1. Galileo in 1607..............................................................................................3 2. Castelli in 1607. The epistulae Cavenses....................................................... -
Knowledge, Freedom, and Brotherly Love: Homosociality and the Accademia Dei Lincei Mario Biagioli Special Cluster: Gender and Early-Modern Science
Copyright © 1995, The Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for Literature and Science. All rights reserved. Configurations 3.2 (1995) 139-166 ../toc Knowledge, Freedom, and Brotherly Love: Homosociality and the Accademia dei Lincei Mario Biagioli Special Cluster: Gender and Early-Modern Science The Accademia dei Lincei, often considered the earliest of scientific organizations, was established in 1603 by Federico Cesi, a young Roman aristocrat who was soon to become prince of San Polo and Sant'Angelo, duke of Aquasparta, and marquis of Monticelli. 1 After a period of very limited activity, which lasted until 1609, the academy quickly revived its membership and visibility, and by 1611 it included prestigious figures like Galileo and Giovanbattista della Porta. Its ranks continued to increase until 1625, when it listed thirty-two members, most of them located in Rome, Naples, and Florence. 2 The Lincei became an important reference point in the fledgling Italian philosophical community and played a relevant role in Galileo's later career, but it collapsed shortly after the prince's death in 1630. Cesi left behind a vast, elaborate, and well-documented academic project that usually bore little more than a family resemblance to the [End Page 139] actual academy. This essay analyzes the gender dimensions of Cesi's project and traces them into some aspects of the academy's historical record. Unlike all other seventeenth-century scientific academies that excluded women from their membership without making that ban explicit or providing reasons for their policies, the Lincei's oath stated that the academy was a "philosophical army" whose recruits were exclusively male. -
The Search for Longitude: Preliminary Insights from a 17Th Century Dutch Perspective
The search for longitude: Preliminary insights from a 17th Century Dutch perspective Richard de Grijs Kavli Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Peking University, China Abstract. In the 17th Century, the Dutch Republic played an important role in the scientific revolution. Much of the correspondence among contemporary scientists and their associates is now digitally available through the ePistolarium webtool, allowing current scientists and historians unfettered access to transcriptions of some 20,000 letters from the Dutch Golden Age. This wealth of information offers unprece- dented insights in the involvement of 17th Century thinkers in the scientific issues of the day, including descriptions of their efforts in developing methods to accurately determine longitude at sea. Un- surprisingly, the body of correspondence referring to this latter aspect is largely dominated by letters involving Christiaan Huygens. However, in addition to the scientific achievements reported on, we also get an unparalleled and fascinating view of the personalities involved. 1. Scientific dissemination during the Dutch ‘Golden Age’ The 17th Century is regarded as the ‘Golden Age’ in the history of the Netherlands. The open, tolerant and transparent conditions in the 17th Century Dutch Republic – at the time known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands – allowed the nation to play a pivotal role in the international network of humanists and scholars before and during the ‘scientific revolution’. The country had just declared its independence from -
How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World
it. As Clavius points out in the “Prolegomena,” it was the sturdiest edifice in the kingdom of knowledge. For a taste of the Euclidean method, consider Euclid’s proof of proposition 32 in book 1: that the sum of the angles of any triangle is equal to two right angles—or, as we would say, 180 degrees. Euclid, at this point, has already proven that when a straight line falls on two parallel lines, it creates the same angles with one parallel line as with the other (book 1, proposition 29). He makes good use of this theorem here: Proposition 32: In any triangle, if one of the sides be produced, the exterior angle is equal to the two interior and opposite angles, and the three interior angles of the triangle are equal to two right angles. Proof: Let ABC be a triangle and let one side of it be produced to D. I say that the exterior angle ACD is equal to the two interior and opposite angles CAB, ABC, and the three interior angles of the triangle, ABC, BCA, CAB, are equal to two right angles. Figure 2.1. The sum of the angles in a triangle. 92 This was Salviati’s (Galileo’s) theory of matter, and as he himself admitted, it was a difficult one. “What a sea we are slipping into without knowing it!” Salviati exclaims at one point. “With vacua, and infinities, and indivisibles … shall we ever be able, even by means of a thousand discussions, to reach dry land?” Indeed, can a finite amount of material be composed of an infinite number of atoms and an infinite number of empty spaces? To prove his point that it could, he turned to mathematics. -
NUN 30 Ribouillault Proofs 1.REV.Pdf (1.888Mb)
2014224 [NUN-2015-30.1] 006-Ribouillault-proof-01 [date 1412151024 : version 1412031345] page 124 Nuncius 30 (2015) 124–160 brill.com/nun Atlas and Hercules in the Garden Scientific Culture and Literary Imagination at the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati Denis Ribouillault University of Montréal, Canada [email protected] Abstract This essay explores the interplay in early modern Roman gardens between the iconog- raphy of instruments and fountains and scientific culture, especially astronomy. Exam- ining the sundials that adorned the garden at the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati, it suggests a new reading of the garden and its iconographic programme, centred on the iconography of Atlas and Hercules holding the celestial sphere. It stresses the impor- tance of scientific culture for both the conception and the subsequent reception of the programme. Several themes are developed: the relevance of wonder and curiosity in the process of understanding nature, the multiple links between nature and artefacts in the space of the garden, and the scientific interests of the patron, Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, and his main adviser, the letterato Giovanni Battista Agucchi. Keywords gardens – Giovanni Battista Agucchi – sundials … For Volker Remmert ∵ In Galileo as a Critic of the Arts (1954), Erwin Panofsky famously advanced the contention that it was Galileo’s aesthetic taste that explained his refusal to con- © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi: 10.1163/18253911-03001006 2014224 [NUN-2015-30.1] 006-Ribouillault-proof-01 [date 1412151024 : version 1412031345] page 125 atlas and hercules in the garden 125 sider Kepler’s discovery of the elliptical orbit. The ellipse, he argued, was too foreign to the idea of perfection represented by the circle. -
Johannes Hudde (1628-1704) the Person in Whom Science, Technology, and Governance Came Together
The Most Versatile Scientist, Regent, and VOC Director of the Dutch Golden Age: Johannes Hudde (1628-1704) The person in whom science, technology, and governance came together Michiel van Musscher, Painting of Johannes Hudde, Mayor of Amsterdam and mathematician, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum (1686). Name: Theodorus M.A.M. de Jong Student number: 5936462 Number of words: 32,377 Date: 14-7-2018 E-mail address: [email protected] Supervisors: prof. dr. Rienk Vermij & dr. David Baneke Master: History and Philosophy of Science University: Utrecht University Table of Content blz. Introduction 4 1. Hudde as a student of the Cartesian philosopher Johannes de Raeij 10 The master as student 10 Descartes’ natural philosophy in De Raeij’s Clavis 12 2. Does the Earth move? 16 The pamphlet war between Hudde and Du Bois 16 3. The introduction of practical and ‘new’ mathematics at Leiden University 23 The Leiden engineering school: Duytsche Mathematique 24 Hudde’s improvement of Cartesian mathematics 25 Hudde’s method of solving high-degree equations and finding the extremes 27 4. The operation of microscopic lenses in theory and practice 30 Hudde’s theoretical treatise on spherical aberration, Specilla Circularia 30 Hudde’s alternative to lens grinding 31 5. Hudde’s question about the existence of only one God 35 Hudde’s correspondence with Spinoza 35 Hudde’s correspondence with Locke 40 6. From scholar to regent 47 Origin and background 47 The road to mayor 48 Hudde as an advisor to the States-General 50 The finances of the State of Holland 52 The two nephews: Hudde and Witsen 54 7. -
Lecture 1. Education and Math in the Medieval Europe
Lecture 1. Education and Math in the Medieval Europe Historical context: Early Middle Ages or Dark Ages refer to the period of 5th – 10th centuries 5th century: Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 410-476, decline in population, deurbanization, loss of culture 6th century: Justinian I published Code of Civil Law and retakes Rome from Ostrogoths 7th century: Arab army capture new territories 8th century: Carolingian Renaissance: monastic and cathedral schools were established everywhere to train men of civil service, Palace School at Aahen (in Abbasside Caliphate: Islamic Golden Age, “House of Wisdom”) Barbarian invasions: the Viking Age 793-1066, raids of Magyars (Hungarians) 795-1001, invasions of Saracens (Arabs, Berbers, Moors and Turks) first occupation in 8th century, continued in 9th-11th. Great Schism 1054 separation between the East Orthodox and the West Catholic Churches Boethius (480-524) noble Roman, Christian philosopher, “last of the Romans and the first of Scholastics” Magister officiorum (head of government and court services) of Theodoric, king of Italy and of Goths, who later imprisoned and executed Boethius in charges of conspiracy Consolation of Philosophy philosophical treatise composed in jail: on Weal of fortune, evil and death, etc., one of the most popular and influential works of the Middle Ages Translated many books from Greek to Latin: philosophy (Aristotle, Plato), Math (“Arithmetic” of Nicomachus, geometry books, etc.) were textbooks for quadrivium in the Middle Ages. Cassiodorus (485-585) Roman statesman and writer, was Magister officiorum after Boethius Established a system of monastery education (School at Vivarium) based on 7 Liberal Arts Through Early Middle Ages, schools at some monasteries and cathedrals were the only centers to get a minimal education based on Trivium and aimed for religious needs. -
Calculus and Its Origins
i i “C&IO” — 2012/2/14 — 12:16 — page i — #1 i i Calculus and Its Origins i i i i i i “C&IO” — 2012/2/14 — 12:16 — page ii — #2 i i The three aluminum pyramids together create a cube, demonstrating one of Buenaventura Cavalieri’s arguments that appears in Chapter 4. (Photographs by Anthony Aquilina.) i i i i i i “C&IO” — 2012/2/14 — 12:16 — page iii — #3 i i Calculus and Its Origins David Perkins Luzerne County Community College Published and Distributed by The Mathematical Association of America i i i i i i “C&IO” — 2012/2/14 — 12:16 — page iv — #4 i i c 2012 by the Mathematical Association of America, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2011943235 Print edition ISBN: 978-0-88385-575-1 Electronic edition ISBN: 978-1-61444-508-1 Printed in the United States of America Current Printing (last digit): 10987654321 i i i i i i “C&IO” — 2012/2/14 — 12:16 — page v — #5 i i Council on Publications and Communications Frank Farris, Chair Committee on Books Gerald Bryce, Chair Spectrum Editorial Board Gerald L. Alexanderson, Editor Robert E. Bradley Susanna S. Epp Richard K. Guy Keith M. Kendig Shawnee L. McMurran Jeffrey L. Nunemacher Kenneth A. Ross Franklin F. Sheehan JamesJ.Tattersall RobinWilson i i i i i i “C&IO” — 2012/2/14 — 12:16 — page vi — #6 i i SPECTRUM SERIES The Spectrum Series of the Mathematical Association of America was so named to reflect its purpose: to publish a broad range of books including biographies, accessible expositions of old or new mathematical ideas, reprints and revisions of excellent out-of-print books, popular works, and other monographs of high inter- est that will appeal to a broad range of readers, including students and teachers of mathematics, mathematical amateurs, and researchers. -
Mapping the Dutch World Overseas in the Seventeenth Century Kees Zandvliet
46 • Mapping the Dutch World Overseas in the Seventeenth Century Kees Zandvliet In 1602, the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC, Monumenta Cartographica intended to demonstrate, or Dutch East India Company) was chartered by the through reproduction and description of the most impor- States General of the Netherlands (the state assembly) to tant maps manufactured by the Dutch, the role these conduct a monopoly in trade east of the Cape of Good maps played in exploration.2 Therefore it concentrates Hope and west of the Strait of Magellan. Seventeen years primarily on maps from the period of the great Dutch later, in 1619, the Company acquired a privilege from the voyages of discovery in the first half of the seventeenth States General relating to maps.1 The privilege stipulated century. This work made the manuscript maps and plans that to publish any geographical information about the in the atlas of the collector Laurens van der Hem and the chartered area of the Company, the express permission of important watercolors of Joannes Vingboons available to the board of directors of the Company, the Heren XVII a much wider audience. Interest in maps and charts re- (the seventeen gentlemen), was required. In their request lated to maritime history, the history of discoveries, and for this privilege, the directors emphasized the impor- bibliographical history remains strong, as is clear from tance of the geographical knowledge acquired by the more recent studies by such scholars as Keuning, Koe- VOC’s employees on a daily basis: to map seas, straits, man, and Schilder.3 Study of the cartography of the Com- and coastlines and to compile treatises on the areas with panies has often been limited to the production of mar- which the VOC traded.