Menso Folkerts' Medieval List of Euclid Manuscripts
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
On Some Borrowed and Misunderstood Problems in Greek Catoptrics
On Some Borrowed and Misunderstood Problems in Greek Catoptrics by ALEXANDERJONES Optics was one of the first sciences to which ancient Greek mathe- maticians attempted to apply the apparatus of geometry. They were most successful in describing geometrically certain phenomena of per- spective (as in Euclid’s Optics and parts of Pappus’s Collection, Book 6),less so in catoljtrics, the study of mirrors.’ The problems typically encountered in the surviving writings on catoptrics fall into two classes: those dealing with the reflection of rays cast from a luminous source such as the sun upon minors of plane or curved surface, and those involving the projection of lines of sight from the eye by way of a minor to an object. The most basic problem of the first class, to make a burning mirror, is solved correctly in Diocles’s On Burning Mirrors (ca. 200 B.C.) with both spherical and parabolic mirrors; other prob- lems were investigated by Diocles, by Anthemius (ca. A.D. 620) in his On Paradoxical Devices, and doubtless by other authors in the cen- turies between.2 In general these problems were amenable to geo- metrical treatment in antiquity because Hellenistic geometers were equipped to study the tangent lines to a wide range of curves (or the tangent planes to analogous surfaces) and the behaviour of straight lines in a given direction or through a given point .and inflected at the curve or surface at equal angles to the tangent at the point of in- cidence. Problems of the other class, in which it was required to make an ar- rangement of mirrors or a mirror with a special curvature, such that a *Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Victoria College, Univer- sity of Toronto, Toronto, Canada MSS 1K7. -
Copernicus and His Revolutions
Copernicus and his Revolutions Produced for the Cosmology and Cultures Project of the OBU Planetarium by Kerry Magruder August, 2005 2 Credits Written & Produced by: Kerry Magruder Narrator: Candace Magruder Copernicus: Kerry Magruder Cardinal Schönberg: Phil Kemp Andreas Osiander: J Harvey C. S. Lewis: Phil Kemp Johann Kepler: J Harvey Book Images courtesy: History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries Photographs and travel slides courtesy: Duane H.D. Roller Archive, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries Digital photography by: Hannah Magruder Soundtrack composed and produced by: Eric Barfield Special thanks to... Peter Barker, Bernie Goldstein, Katherine Tredwell, Dennis Danielson, Mike Keas, JoAnn Palmeri, Hannah Magruder, Rachel Magruder, Susanna Magruder, Candace Magruder Produced with a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies 3 1. Contents 1. Contents________________________________________________3 2. Introduction _____________________________________________4 A. Summary ____________________________________________4 B. Synopsis ____________________________________________5 C. Instructor Notes_______________________________________7 3. Before the Show _________________________________________9 A. Vocabulary and Definitions _____________________________9 B. Pre-Test ____________________________________________10 4. Production Script________________________________________11 A. Production Notes_____________________________________11 B. Theater Preparation___________________________________13 -
Al-Kindi, a Ninth-Century Physician, Philosopher, And
AL-KINDI, A NINTH-CENTURY PHYSICIAN, PHILOSOPHER, AND SCHOLAR by SAMI HAMARNEH FROM 9-12 December, I962, the Ministry of Guidance in Iraq celebrated the thousandth anniversary of one of the greatest intellectual figures of ninth century Baghdad, Abui Yuisuf Ya'qiib ibn Ishaq al-Kind? (Latin Alkindus).1 However, in the aftermath ofthis commendable effort, no adequate coverage of al-Kindl as a physician-philosopher ofardent scholarship has, to my knowledge, been undertaken. This paper, therefore, is intended to shed light on his intel- lectual contributions within the framework of the environment and time in which he lived. My proposals and conclusions are mainly based upon a study of al-Kindi's extant scientific and philosophical writings, and on scattered information in the literature of the period. These historical records reveal that al-Kindi was the only man in medieval Islam to be called 'the philosopher of the Arabs'.2 This honorary title was apparently conferred upon him as early as the tenth century if not during his lifetime in the ninth. He lived in the Abbasids' capital during a time of high achievement. As one of the rare intellectual geniuses of the century, he con- tributed substantially to this great literary, philosophic, and scientific activity, which included all the then known branches of human knowledge. Very little is known for certain about the personal life of al-Kind?. Several references in the literary legacy ofIslam, however, have assisted in the attempt to speculate intelligently about the man. Most historians of the period confirm the fact that al-Kindl was of pure Arab stock and a rightful descendant of Kindah (or Kindat al-Muliuk), originally a royal south-Arabian tribe3. -
Pedoe, D., Geometry and the Liberal Arts, Penguin Books, Inc., 1976. [Pe1819] Peyrard, F., Les Oeuvres D’Euclide, Traduites Litteralment, C
ceton University Press, 1970. [Pe76] Pedoe, D., Geometry and the Liberal Arts, Penguin Books, Inc., 1976. [Pe1819] Peyrard, F., Les Oeuvres D’Euclide, Traduites Litteralment, C. F. Patris, Paris, 1819. [Pl1831] Playfair, J., Elements of Geometry; Containing the First Six Books of Euclid, Bell & Bradfute, Edinburgh, 1831. [PS85] Preparata, F. P. and Shamos, M. I., Computational Geometry: An Introduction, Spring- er-Verlag, 1985. [Ru51] Russell, B., The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1951. [Sh28] Shenton, W. F., "The first English Euclid," American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 35, 1928, pp. 505-511. [SA48] Stark, M. E. and Archibald, R. C., "Jacob Steiner’s geometrical constructions with a ruler given a fixed circle with its center," (translated from the German 1833 edition), Scripta Mathematica, vol. 14, 1948, pp. 189-264. [Sm1879] Smith, J. H., Elements of Geometry, Rivingtons, Waterloo Place, London, 1879. [Sm61] Smogorzhevskii, A. S., The Ruler in Geometrical Constructions, Blaisdell, New York, 1961. [Ta1895] Taylor, H. M., Euclid’s Elements of Geometry, Cambridge University Press, 1895. [To1876] Todhunter, I., The Elements of Euclid, Copp, Clarck & Co., Toronto, 1876. [To84] Toussaint, G. T., "Computational geometric thinking as kinesthetic thinking," Confer- ence on Thinking, Harvard University, August 1984. [Wi1703] Williams, R., Elements of Euclid Explained and Demonstrated in a New and Most Easy Method, Globemaker, London, 1703. - 23 - From the Greek, Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GMBH, Stuttgart, 1987. [Cl1654] Clavio, C., Euclidis Elementorum, Jonae Rosae, Francofurti, 1654. [CR81] Courant, R. and Robbins, H., What is Mathematics? Oxford University Press, 1981. [Du90] Dunham, W., Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1990. -
Atmospheric Refraction: a History
Atmospheric refraction: a history Waldemar H. Lehn and Siebren van der Werf We trace the history of atmospheric refraction from the ancient Greeks up to the time of Kepler. The concept that the atmosphere could refract light entered Western science in the second century B.C. Ptolemy, 300 years later, produced the first clearly defined atmospheric model, containing air of uniform density up to a sharp upper transition to the ether, at which the refraction occurred. Alhazen and Witelo transmitted his knowledge to medieval Europe. The first accurate measurements were made by Tycho Brahe in the 16th century. Finally, Kepler, who was aware of unusually strong refractions, used the Ptolemaic model to explain the first documented and recognized mirage (the Novaya Zemlya effect). © 2005 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 000.2850, 010.4030. 1. Introduction the term catoptrics became reserved for reflection Atmospheric refraction, which is responsible for both only, and the term dioptrics was adopted to describe astronomical refraction and mirages, is a subject that the study of refraction.2 The latter name was still in is widely dispersed through the literature, with very use in Kepler’s time. few works dedicated entirely to its exposition. The same must be said for the history of refraction. Ele- ments of the history are scattered throughout numer- 2. Early Greek Theories ous references, many of which are obscure and not Aristotle (384–322 BC) was one of the first philoso- readily available. It is our objective to summarize in phers to write about vision. He considered that a one place the development of the concept of atmo- transparent medium such as air or water was essen- spheric refraction from Greek antiquity to the time of tial to transmit information to the eye, and that vi- Kepler, and its use to explain the first widely known sion in a vacuum would be impossible. -
The Arabic-Latin Translators – Natural Science and Philosophy
CHARLES BURNETT List of Publications Books, and articles over 100 pages long Articles and pamphlets, arranged thematically, and in chronological order within each topic The Arabic-Latin Translators – Natural Science and Philosophy – Astronomy and Astrology - Medicine and Psychology – Magic and Divination – Arithmetic and Geometry – Anglo- Norman Science and Learning in the Twelfth Century – Peter Abelard and the French Schools – Music – Contacts between the West and the Far East – Miscellaneous – Reviews (selection) List of editions of Latin texts in books and articles above (Please note that some diacritical markings are missing) Books, and articles over 100 pages long: 1. Hermann of Carinthia, De essentiis, critical edition, translation and commentary, Leiden, 1982, 385 pp. (reviews in Speculum, 1984, pp. 911–3, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 28, 1985, p. 685, Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch, 20, 1985, pp. 287–90, Deutsches Archiv, 41, 1985, p. 255, Rivista di storia della filosofia, 2, 1984, pp. 349–51, Bulletin de théologie ancienne et médiévale, 14, 1989, p. 695). 2. ‘A Checklist of the Manuscripts Containing Writings of Peter Abelard and Heloise and Other Works Closely Associated with Abelard and his School’, Revue d’histoire des textes, 14–15, 1984–5, pp. 183–302 (with David Luscombe and Julia Barrow). 3. Pseudo-Bede, De mundi celestis terrestrisque constitutione: a Treatise on the Universe and the Soul, edition, translation and commentary, Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts 10, London, 1985. 88 pp. (reviews in Isis, 77, 1986, pp. 182–3, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, 81, 1986, p. 742, Ambix, 33, 1986, p. 155, Journal of the History of Astronomy, 19, 1988, pp. -
Preprint N°494
2019 Preprint N°494 The Reception of Cosmography in Vienna: Georg von Peuerbach, Johannes Regiomontanus, and Sebastian Binderlius Thomas Horst Published in the context of the project “The Sphere—Knowledge System Evolution and the Shared Scientific Identity of Europe” https://sphaera.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de The Reception of Cosmography in Vienna: Georg von Peuerbach, Johannes Regiomontanus, and Sebastian Binderlius1 Abstract In this paper, the importance of the cosmographical activities of the Vienna astronomical “school” for the reception of the Tractatus de Sphaera is analyzed. First, the biographies of two main representatives of the Vienna mathematical/astronomical circle are presented: the Austrian astronomers, mathematicians, and instrument makers Georg von Peuerbach (1423– 1461) and his student Johannes Müller von Königsberg (Regiomontanus, 1436–1476). Their studies influenced the cosmographical teaching at the University of Vienna enormously for the next century and are relevant to understanding what followed; therefore, the prosopo- graphical introductions of these Vienna scholars have been included here, even if neither can be considered a real author of the Sphaera. Moreover, taking the examples of an impressive sixteenth-century miscellany (Austrian Na- tional Library, Cod. ser. nov. 4265, including the recently rediscovered cosmography by Sebastian Binderlius, compiled around 1518), the diversity of different cosmographical studies in the capital of the Habsburg Empire at the turning point between the Middle Ages and the early modern period is demonstrated. Handwritten comments in the Vienna edition of De sphaera (1518) also show how big the influence of Sacrobosco’s work remained as a didactical tool at the universities in the first decades of the sixteenth century—and how cosmographical knowledge was transformed and structured in early modern Europe by the editors and readers of the Sphaera. -
Some Readings in the Early History of Light
Paul Avery PHY 3400 Aug. 23, 1999 Some Readings in the Early History of Light The Greeks In optics, Euclid's textbook (called the Optics) set the precedent. Euclid postulated visual rays to be straight lines, and he defined the apparent size of an object in terms of the angle formed by the rays drawn from the top and the bottom of the object to the observer's eye. He then proved, for example, that nearer objects appear larger and appear to move faster and showed how to measure the height of distant objects from their shadows or reflected images, and so on. Other textbooks set out theorems on the phenomena of reflection and refraction (the field called catoptrics). The most extensive survey of optical phenomena is a treatise attributed to the astronomer Ptolemy (2nd century AD), which survives only in the form of an incomplete Latin translation (12th century) based on a lost Arabic translation. It covers the fields of geometric optics and catoptrics, as well as experimental areas, such as binocular vision, and more general philosophical principles (the nature of light, vision, and colour). Of a somewhat different sort are the studies of burning mirrors by Diocles (late 2nd century BC), who proved that the surface that reflects the rays from the Sun to a single point is a paraboloid of revolution. Constructions of such devices remained of interest as late as the 6th century AD, when Anthemius of Tralles, best known for his work as architect of the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople, compiled a survey of remarkable mirror configurations. -
Optics History As Effective Instrument for Education in Optics and Photonics
ETOP 2009 1 Optics history as effective instrument for education in optics and photonics S.K. Stafeef and M.G. Tomilin St.-Petersburg University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, St.- Petersburg, 197101, Kronverksky Pr. 49, Russia ABSTRACT The education problem in optics and photonics is to draw young generation on the side of light, optical science and technology. The main goal is to prove the slogan that “physics is a small part of optics”: during the thousand years optics formulated the clear worldview for humanity. In fact optics is itself presents multidisciplinary collection of independent scientific arias from one hand and was a generator of new fields of knowledge from the other hand. Optics and photonics are the regions where the fundamental problems of our reality have to be solved. The mentioned functions belonged to optics during the period of civilizations development. This is a basic idea of books serial by S. Stafeev and M. Tomilin “Five Millennium of Optics” including 3 volumes. The first volume devoted to optics prehistory was edit in 2006 in Russian. Its main chapters devoted to relations between Sun and Life, the beginnings of human intelligence, megalithic viewfinders, gnomons and ancient temples orientation, archaic optical materials and elements. It also consist the optical riddles of that period. The volume II is devoted to Greek and Roman antiquity and is in the process of publishing. It consist the chapters on the beginning of optics, mathematical fundaments and applied optics evolution. Volume III would be devoted to Medieval and Renaissance optics history. The materials are used at our university in a course “The Modern Natural Science Conceptions” for students and graduate students. -
Bibliography
© Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Editions Perna, Petrus. 1580. Plotini platonicorum facile coryphaei operum philosophicorum omnium libri LIV: in sex enneades distributi. Basileae: Ad Perneam Lecythum. Fabricius, Johann Albert. 1711. Bibliothecae graecae libri IV. Hamburgi: [Christiani Liebezeit]. Creuzer, Georg Friedrich, Georg Heinrich Moser, and Daniel Wyttenbach. 1835. Plotini opera omnia, Porphyrii liber de vita Plotini. 3 vols. Oxonii: e typographaeo Academico. Westermann, Anton. 1850. Porphyrius De vita Plotini apud Carel Gabriel Cobet, Diogenis Laertii de clarorum philosophorum vitis, dogmatibus et apophthegmatibus libri decem. Paris: Firmin Didot. Kirchhoff, Adolf. 1856. Plotini opera. 2 vols. Bibl. Teubneriana. Lipsiae: in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Müller, Hermann Friedrich. 1878-80. Plotini Enneades. 2 vols. Berolini: apud Weidmannos. von Volkmann, Richard. 1883-4. Plotini Enneades, praemisso Porphyrii de vita Plotini deque ordine librorum eius libello. Bibl. Teubneriana. Lipsiae: in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Bréhier, Émile. 1924-38. Plotin: Ennéades. 6 vols. in 7. Coll. Budé. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Pugliese Carratelli, Giovanni. 1946. Porfirio: Vita di Plotino ed ordine dei suoi libri. Napoli: G. Machiaroli. Faggin, Giuseppe. 1947-8. Plotino: Le Enneadi e Porfirio: Vita di Plotino. 3 vols. Milano: Istituto editoriale italiano. Rev. ed. 2000, Milano: Bompiani. Henry, Paul, and Hans-Rudolf Schwyzer. 1951-73. Plotini opera. (Editio maior.) 3 vols. Museum Lessianum Series Philosophica 33-5. Bruxelles: L’Édition Universelle and Paris: Desclée de Brouwer. ———. 1964-82. Plotini opera. (Editio minor.) 3 vols. OCT. Oxonii: e typographeo Clarendoniano. -
Translations from Arabic (Astronomy/Astrology) : the Formation of Terminology
Translations from Arabic (Astronomy/Astrology) : The Formation of Terminology In the history of science the notion of “Arabic science” - or, in our context, “Arabic astronomy” - is a well-known term, mostly in connection with its influ ence on the development of Western science in the Middle Ages. This term, however, needs some comment, both for the terms “astronomy” and “Arabic”. First: the Arabs were the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, mostly bedouins, largely isolated from the scientific developments in the Near Eastern regions cultivating the sciences. On the other hand, these Arabs observed the natural phenomena for many centuries. They observed the stars and their behav iour through the year and derived from them rules for fixing the seasons and periods of rain and drought etc. and used the stars for orientation in their migra tions by night. All this was sort of a popular knowledge of the sky and popular star lore. After the spread of Islam through the countries of the Middle East the Arabs gradually became acquainted with the sciences cultivated in the Byzan tine and Iranian regions. In the eighth century translations of astrological and astronomical works began to be made from Persian, Indian and Greek into Arabic, and from now on started what has become so well-known as “Arabic astronomy”, i.e. the “scientific” astronomy, in contrast to the old-Arabic folk astronomy. While the translation movement continued into the tenth century, from the first half of the ninth century on “Arabic” astronomers, having studied the translated materials, began to develop their own, “Arabic”, scientific, and no longer popular, astronomy. -
THE ENTRANCE of MODERN OPTICS to OTTOMAN SCIENCE by Sena Pekkendir B.S., Physics, Boğaziçi University, 2011 Submitted To
THE ENTRANCE OF MODERN OPTICS TO OTTOMAN SCIENCE by Sena Pekkendir B.S., Physics, Boğaziçi University, 2011 Submitted to the Institute for Graduate Studies in Science and Engineeering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Graduate Program in Physics Boğaziçi University 2015 ii THE ENTRANCE OF MODERN OPTICS TO OTTOMAN SCIENCE APPROVED BY: Prof. Levent Kurnaz ………………………... (Thesis Supervisor) Prof. İhsan Fazlıoğlu ………………………… (Thesis Co-advisor) Assoc. Prof. Burçin Ünlü ………………………… Prof. Edhem Eldem ………………………… Prof. Naci İnci ………………………… DATE OF APPROVAL: 02.07.2015 iii Dedicated to my husband Behiç and my son Ömer Melih iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis advisor Prof. Levent Kurnaz for teaching me how to do academic research at first by joining me to his Soft Condensed Matter Lab when I was a sophomore. Also I’m very lucky to have been attended to his lectures on History of Science for that I discovered the branch I want to spend my life with. I’m so thankful to him to encourage and support me to write a thesis on history of science. I’d like to express my gratitude to Prof. İhsan Fazlıoğlu for always forcing me to be better and for teaching me a great deal of wisdom of academy. I’m very grateful for the things I’ve learned from him and I’m lucky that I’ll continue learning from him in the upcoming years. I also would like to thank my mother Sera Sarı for being there whenever I need her and always supporting me.