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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – IV
There is very little doubt that Aristotle (384–§22 BCE) is the predominant figure in the narrative of the history of European science in the twenty-two centuries from 400 BCE to 1800 CE, and even...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – V
In the last episode I outlined those aspects of Aristotle’s philosophy that would go on to play a significant role of the history of physics in later centuries. Because Aristotelian philosophy came to...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – VII
No figure looms larger in the history of ancient mathematics than Archimedes, a name surrounded by a dense cloud of stories, myths, and legends. However, one should never lose sight of the fact that...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XI
Having in the last two episodes dealt with the first two of the three so-called mixed sciences, astronomy and optics, I shall now deal with statics[1]. Although receiving far less attention in...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XII
As I explained at the very beginning of this series the Greek concept ta physika was very different from what we envision when we hear the word physics today. In fact, this series is an attempt to...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XIII
Just as the period of dominance of Aristotelian philosophy in antiquity was succeeded by the rise to dominance of Stoicism and Epicureanism, as I documented in the fifth episode of the series, so they...
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Magnetic Variations – V William Gilbert
We have now reached the pinnacle of investigations into magnetism and the magnetic compass, during the Early Modern Period, with the publication of William Gilbert’s De magnete in 1600. I will be...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XV
Over time, the translation movement stated by the ‘Abbāsid Caliph al-Manṣūr (714–775) translated a large part of the works of Aristotle into Arabic. His philosophy was warmly welcomed by the Islamic...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XVII
As I explained in episode XII of this series where I introduced the work of the ancient Greek engineers and their machines, the discipline mechanics derives its name from the study of machines. Greek...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XVIII
During the Middle ages Islamicate scholars analysed, studies, criticised and developed a wide range of academic disciples that they had adopted from their Greek, Persian, Chinese, and India...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXI
As with the last post in this series I shall be covering material that I have already covered in my series on Renaissance Science. Rather than just link to those posts, I shall here briefly sketch the...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXII
One area of what would become physics that saw serious developments during the European Middle Ages was motion, both fall and projectile motion. I’ve dealt with various aspects of these developments...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXIII
One area of what would become physics that developed significantly as a direct result of the translations made during the Scientific Renaissance of the twelfth century was optics. The two Islamic...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXV
At the beginning of the first episode of this series I wrote the following: In popular histories of science in Europe the history of physics is all too often presented roughly as follows, in antiquity...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXVI
In this series we have seen that various scholars over the centuries have questioned, challenged and even rejected Aristotle’s theories of free fall and projectile motion. Just as Tartaglia extended...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXVII
Regular readers of this blog will know that I challenge the big names, big events version of the history of science going into battle for the less well-known figures, who often made highly significant...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXVIII
It is one of the ironies of the history of science that Galileo’s most important and most solid piece of science writing[1], his Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXX
In this episode we are going to take another look at a sixteenth century scholar, who had a profound influence on Galileo in many different ways, Guidobaldo dal[1] Monte (1545–1607). Guidobaldo was...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXXI
In the last episode of this series, we looked at two popular sixteenth century texts on statics, the oft published and widely read pseudo-Aristotelian Questiones Mechanicae, and Guidobaldo dal Monte’s...
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From τὰ φυσικά (ta physika) to physics – XXXII
As should be clear by now the renaissance in awareness and study of the works of Archimedes, which had been largely ignored in the medieval period, played a major role in the new developments in...
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