Showing papers in "Annals of Science in 1976"

The graves mathematical collection in University College London

Abstract: (1976). The graves mathematical collection in University College London. Annals of Science: Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 307-309.

‘Mechanical philosophy’ and the emergence of physics in Britain: 1800–1850

Abstract: Summary In the late eighteenth century Newton's Principia was studied in the Scottish universities under the influence of the local school of ‘Common Sense’ philosophy. John Robison, holding the key chair of natural philosophy at Edinburgh from 1774 to 1805, provided a new conception of ‘mechanical philosophy’ which proved crucial to the emergence of physics in nineteenth century Britain. At Cambridge the emphasis on ‘mixed mathematics’ was taken to a new level of refinement and application by the introduction of analytical methods in the 1820s. The fusion of these two schools, with emphasis on conceptual unity on the one hand, and mathematisation on the other, came about from the 1830s onwards, and reached full expression in the new framework of a unified mathematical physics based on the energy principle.

The fortunes of Richard Swineshead in the time of Galileo

Abstract: Summary There is a widely acknowledged, albeit still imprecisely defined, connection between the ‘calculatory’ analyses of local motion developed within the fourteenth century ‘Merton School’ and Galileo Galilei's later treatment of natural motion. The present essay is intended to cast some light on the possible sources and significance of Galileo's putative familiarity with the medieval discussions through a study of the fortunes of the most typical representative of the School, Richard Swineshead. Particular attention is paid to the writings of such scholastic philosophers of Galileo's day as Francisco Toledo, Francesco Piccolomini, Iacopo Zabarella, Francesco Buonamico and Scipione Chiaramonte. Somewhat unexpectedly, it emerges that such authors possessed only the most fragmentary and attenuated knowledge of Swineshead's ideas. The implications of this circumstance, especially insofar as it renders Galileo's familiarity with the Merton tradition even more problematical, are discussed briefly.

Renaissance humanism and botany

Abstract: Summary The enthusiasm of Renaissance humanists for classical learning greatly influenced the development of botany in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Humanist scholars restored the treatises of Theophrastus, Pliny, Galen and Dioscorides on botany and materia medica to general circulation and argued for their use as textbooks in Renaissance universities. Renaissance botanists' respect for classical precepts and models of the proper methods for studying plants temporarily discouraged the use of naturalistic botanical illustration, but encouraged other techniques for collecting and communicating new observations: herbaria, botanical gardens and field trips.

Galileo: the search for the parabolic trajectory

Abstract: Summary Recent study of Galileo's surviving manuscript notes on motion has revealed that by 1609 he had developed the major part of his theory of projectile motion. During the period of these theoretical advances Galileo was engaged in important related experimental investigations; this has become clear from the study of folios 114r and 116v of the manuscript on motion. This paper provides an interpretation of a manuscript not previously discussed—folio 81r. The analysis provided indicates that it is evidence of an important early experiment of the series in which Galileo studied the projectile trajectory. The reconstruction of the experiment concerned reveals relationships with the enquiries suggested by folio 114r and 116v and indicates that Galileo examined the form of projectile trajectories with some care.

Galileo's experiments with pendulums: Real and imaginary

Abstract: Summary In his many uses of the pendulum as a model for other motions, Galileo also described several of the properties of pendular motion. All but a small number of his apparently observational reports ring true because of his use of such qualifiers as ‘almost’. His report of observations of two lead balls on equal long strings is shown by reconstruction to have been a real experiment. His report of similar observations with balls of cork and lead is shown to be an imaginary experiment. His claim that the period of a pendulum is independent of amplitude is shown to be based more on mathematical deduction than on experimental observation.

The genesis of a mediaeval historian: Pierre Duhem and the origins of statics

Abstract: Contrary to what might be expected given a religious or other motivation, Pierre Duhem's interest in mediaeval science was the result of his surprise encounter with Jordanus de Nemore while working...

The analytical concept of a chemical element in the work of Bergman and Scheele

Abstract: Summary In Thomas Thomson's System of chemistry of 1802 Bergman and Scheele are actually considered as creators of the analytical concept of an element. With regard to this, a detailed investigation of the work of Bergman and Scheele shows that Thomson's statement contains mistakes as well as inadmissable simplifications and generalizations. It is correct, however, that Bergman in 1774–1777 specifically anticipated in essential aspects the analytical element concept proposed by Lavoisier in 1787–1789.

A. M. Mayer's experiments with floating magnets and their use in the atomic theories of matter

Abstract: In the years 1878 and 1879 the American physicist Alfred Marshall Mayer (1836–1897) published his experiments with floating magnets as a didactic illustration of molecular actions and forms. A numb...

Agriculture and chemistry in Britain around 1800

Abstract: Summary This paper is concerned with the application of science to a practical activity. The story begins in the late eighteenth century, a period of agricultural innovation, with various authors urging that definite chemical knowledge should replace rule of thumb in the application of fertilisers. In the work of Archibald Cochrane, ninth Earl of Dundonald, we find this exhortation beginning to give way to descriptions of actual chemical experiments, and interpretations of equilibria in the soil. But it is only with Davy's Agricultural chemistry of 1813 that we get clear descriptions of soil analyses that could be undertaken by a farmer, accompanied with a certain amount of biochemical information on the growth of plants. Davy's recommendations were essentially conservative; he provided support for the best practices already being recommended by innovators. His book is interesting too, for the light it casts upon his more theoretical writings.

The development of the synthetic alkali industry in Great Britain by 1823

Abstract: Summary Scientific chemical production on a commercial scale was evident in Britain in the early nineteenth century. One of the first palaeotechnic chemical industries was the manufacture of synthetic alkali. By 1823 a well-defined pattern of soda production had emerged. An understanding of this initial distribution is important as those areas associated with the early growth of the synthetic alkali industry showed a remarkable continuity of inorganic chemical production for the remainder of the century. The paper attempts to consider those factors which contributed to this selective regional response, and in doing so, a number of interesting factors of location are revealed.

August Leopold Crelle als Herausgeber wissenschaftlicher Fachzeitschriften

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Nach einigen einleitenden Bemerkungen zur Bedeutung von Fachzeitschriften fur die Entwicklung der Wissenschaften und einem Hinweis auf die wichtigsten Abschnitte des Lebenslaufes von August Leopold Crelle (1780–1855) wird seine herausragende Rolle als Grunder und Herausgeber wissenschaftlicher Fachzeitschriften gewurdigt. Zunachst wird die dabei von Crelle besonders fur das Journal fur die reine und angewandte Mathematik geleistete Arbeit ausfuhrlicher dargestellt, dem sich der Versuch einer Einschatzung der Bedeutung dieser Zeitschrift mit Hilfe quantitativer Kennziffern anschliest. Schlieslich wird die Bedeutung des gleichfalls von Crelle begrundeten Journals fur die Baukunst untersucht und herausgearbeitet, das durch das Baujournal den deutschen Ingenieuren wichtige Informationen und Erfahrungen aus dem technisch fortgeschrittenerem Ausland ubermittelt wurden. Abschliesend werden funf unveroffentlichte Dokumente im Wortlaut wiedergegeben, die mit der vorstehenden Thematik im Zusammenhan...

Social Darwinism and constitutional law with special reference to Lochner v. New York

Abstract: Summary American historians have generally accepted Richard Hofstadter's thesis that the scientism of Social Darwinism, or more appropriately, Spencerianism, dominated American thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and nowhere more enthusiastically or more purposively than within the conservative business community, which used Herbert Spencer's scientism to justify corporate business practices and to rewrite American Constitutional law to protect property interests against governmental regulations. Following Sharlin's general exposition of Herbert Spencer's scientism, this paper examines in detail the validity of the Hofstadter thesis as applied to the notorious Lochner v. New York Supreme Court opinion of 1905. The conclusions drawn from this analysis are offered as a repudiation of the generally accepted belief that it was the conservative activists on the Court who were guilty of Spencerian scientism. On the contrary, the argument is presented that it was Justice Holmes and the li...

Heaviside and Kelvin: A study in contrasts

Abstract: Summary Oliver Heaviside and Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) stand in such contrast that the life of each serves to illuminate the life of the other. Thomson's talents, which were recognized at an early age, were cultivated with possibly unsurpassed educational opportunities, whereas Heaviside had scarcely any educational opportunities and was essentially self-taught. Nevertheless, Heaviside's published and unpublished works suggest that the breadth and depth of his learning were more or less comparable to Thomson's. Being an outstanding student at Cambridge brought Thomson in contact with scientists of the first rank, and he learned without effort how to get along with his peers. That pleasing quality was essentially absent in Heaviside, whose personality was as prickly as a porcupine, almost without grace. But underneath this rough exterior was a noble genius who never exploited his rare talents to his own advantage, but instead dedicated them to learning the Truth for its own sake. As to person...

George Biddell Airy and his mechanical correction of the magnetic compass

Abstract: Summary George Biddell Airy (1801–1892) invented the first successful mechanical system of compass correction in 1838, at a time when iron ship-building, especially for steam-driven vessels, had become firmly established. One serious drawback to iron ships was the difficulty in the management of the magnetic compass on board due to the magnetic condition of the ship. The introduction to this paper, which outlines the early history of ship magnetism, is followed by a brief account of Airy's mechanical system. The main purpose of the paper, however, is to comment on the detailed correspondence (the original documents of which are preserved at the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux) relating to the adjustment of the compass, by the Astronomer Royal himself, of the first iron sailing vessel, the Ironside, in November 1838; and to consider the degree of success, at least for the Ironside, of the new plan which was readily adopted for ships of the Mercantile Marine.

Herbert Spencer and scientism

Abstract: Summary Scientism applies the ideas and methods of the natural sciences to the humanities and social sciences. Herbert Spencer applied the law of the conservation of energy to social questions and arrived at formula answers to the issues of the day. The kind of certitude that Spencer aimed for was possible only by ignoring a system of values. Much as he may have believed that he was above personal beliefs, there are values implicit in Spencer's theories and they are the values of the nineteenth-century British middle class. Reasoning by analogy is as valid in social theory as it is in the natural sciences. Spencer's error was in universally applying the idea of the conservation of energy to social systems by means of identity rather than by analogy. Scientists in Britain, where there was a self-assured scientific community, dismissed Spencer's theories as being unscientific, but he enjoyed a vogue in the United States.

The facilities for practical instruction in science during the early years of the Ecole Polytechnique

Abstract: Summary The facilities provided for practical teaching at the Ecole Polytechnique, at the time of its foundation and during the Napoleonic period, have been the subject for much research and conjecture. Documents are discussed and presented which throw light on the actual situation, the number of laboratories, their equipment and apparatus, and the amount of practical instruction provided for the students.

Harriot's manuscript on the theory of impacts

Abstract: Summary In a manuscript summary, probably written in 1619, of his otherwise unknown earlier work on the oblique impact of elastic spheres, Thomas Harriot (1560–1621) gives a largely ‘correct’ theory for their subsequent motion. He derives various consequences from his theory, but gives little indication of the observations (if any) or the first principles on which it may have been based. The text of the summary, and of some related fragments, is given.

Cleveland Abbe and a view of science in mid-nineteenth-century America

Abstract: Summary By the middle of the nineteenth century science was developing into a profession demanding advanced training and devotion to research. American institutions, however, were still better suited to an earlier stage of popular science. Many of the difficulties and frustrations for would-be scientists created by the time lag in institutional change are illustrated in the career of Cleveland Abbe. In the fifteen years between 1856 and 1871 his attempts to become an astronomer touched upon many significant aspects of American science as a profession, including the American observatory movement, the creation of graduate education, government support for science, and the tension between the joint goals of the increase and the diffusion of knowledge.

On the orbital eccentricity of V477 Cygni.

Abstract: Recent photoelectric times of minima support the valuee=0.3 obtained by O'Connell (1970). The lower value obtained by Budding (1974) is ruled out.

The law of illumination before Bouguer (1729): Statement, restatements and demonstration

Abstract: Summary Contrary to what has been asserted or implied by Mach and more recent writers, the law of illumination and the study of photometry were not ignored in the years between Kepler's first enunciation of the former in 1609 and Bouguer's Essai on the latter in 1729. The law of illumination was in fact denied in 1613 by Aguilonius. It was probably rediscovered independently and certainly reformulated in more modern terms by Mersenne and Castelli in 1634, and by Boulliau in 1638. It was again formulated and this time demonstrated empirically by Montanari no later than 1676, and possibly as early as 1634 by Castelli. Although neither the law nor photometry were major concerns before Bouguer, they were not completely neglected either.

Thermodynamics and meteorology (1850–1900)

Abstract: Summary We trace the use of thermodynamics in meteorology from 1850 to 1900 and show the extent to which physicists initiated important lines of research in the use of thermodynamics in meterology. However, it was not until meteorologists adapted physical arguments to the unique requirements of their data that the full power of thermodynamics was achieved. In tracing these developments we remark upon the boundaries between the sciences in the 19th century and tentatively define the criteria for intellectual independence between one science and the science to which it is indebted for its basic principles.

A voltaic enigma and a possible solution to it

Abstract: Summary The invention of the first source of electric current by Alessandro Volta, an account of which he communicated in two letters to Sir Joseph Banks in London in 1800, was the outcome of nine years' experimentation. When material was being collected for the Edizione Nazionale of Volta's works (published in Milan in 1918), the Secretary of the Dutch Academy of Science discovered some correspondence between Volta and van Marum. The letters dated from 1788 to 1795, and two of them, written in 1792, reported some experiments in which the elements which were later to make up his Couronne de tasses and the Pile were constructed. The question that could be asked is: ‘Why did Volta take so long to do the simple operation of connecting these elements in series to form his Artificial electric organ?’. This is the enigma, and I propose in this paper a possible solution to it.

Comments on papers by Sharlin and Wall

Abstract: Summary Wall is convincing on the Fuller court, but less so on Holmes, who may have understood Spencer's Social statics as a laissez faire rather than as a Darwinist document Sharlin helps us to follow Spencer's attempt to universalize the concept of energy, even if Sharlin's explanation for Spencer's failure reduces to an application of the classical insight that physical phenomena are more predictable than social phenomena Sharlin's conception of ‘scientism’ is helpful in some contexts, but less so in others; we need to remind ourselves that the role of values in scientism is active as well as passive

John Case on art and nature.

Abstract: Summary John Case (d. 1600), the most important English Aristotelian of the Renaissance period, has not yet received the attention he deserves. In his Lapis philosophicus (Oxford, 1599), an exposition of Aristotle's Physics, is found a discussion of the relation of nature to art which parallels in many ways that formulated a few years later in the writings of Francis Bacon. Case argues, in a way more reminiscent of the works of Giambattista della Porta than of those of Aristotle, that the natural philosopher can legitimately apply the productive arts in helping nature to fulfill her function. Moreover, while rejecting the excessive claims of the Paracelsians, Case does accept the transmutational claims of the alchemists. In the final analysis, his ‘Aristotelianism’ has been tempered by the tradition of Renaissance natural magic. Like many other Peripatetic thinkers of the period, Case shows himself to be an eclectic, drawing materials from a wide variety of sources and open to many of the new scientific t...

Begründung für die Verschmelzung der Reichsanstalt für Mass und Gewicht mit der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt in Berlin im Jahre 1923

Abstract: Zusammenfassung Zunachst wird mit der Entstehung sowie dem Ausbau der beiden Reichsanstalten bis zum Jahre 1922 historisch eingeleitet, wobei uber die Reichsanstalt fur Mass und Gewicht als die meist unbekanntere etwas ausfuhrlicher berichtet wird Die Begrundungen fur oder gegen eine Verschmelzung werden danach aus der Sicht der beiden Reichsanstalten, der Eichbehorden der Lander des Deutschen Reiches, der Industrie, verschiedener Ausschusse des Deutschen Reichstages und schliesslich der zustandigen Ministerien der Deutschen Reichsregierung angefuhrt Mit einem kurzen Blick auf die inflationsbedingten Probleme des deutschen Alltags von Ende 1923 wird der Aufsatz durch eine Beurteilung des vor 53 Jahren geschehenen Zusammenschlusses aus dem Geschehen eben dieser 53 Jahre abgeschlossen

The geochemical ideas of Mikhail Lomonosov

Abstract: Summary Lomonosov began his scientific career with the study of mining, but his active mind quickly led him to the considerations of physics and chemistry which occupied most of his life. Only toward the end of his career did he begin the systematic treatment of geology and metallurgy. The guiding principle of his thought in these fields became and remained a belief in the extreme age of the earth and the constant modification of its surface. He assumed the presence of a central fire produced by the gradual consumption of sulphur, whose combustion produced earthquakes and mountain formation. Rock formed from clay and eroded into sand which could again be compacted to rock. Plants and animals produced alkaline and earthy materials which by combination with vitriolic acid and phlogiston from burning sulphur gave salt and metals. Fossils were petrified organic remains.