"Magic is No Magic"
the Wonderful World of Simon Stevin
Published on 9. November 2007
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-1-84564-092-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book gives a comprehensive picture of the activities and the creative heritage of Simon Stevin, who made outstanding contributions to various fields of science, in particular physics and mathematics, as well as many more. Among the striking spectrum of his ingenious achievements, it is worth emphasizing that Simon Stevin is rightly considered the father of the decimal fraction system as it is today. Stevin also urged the universal use of decimal fractions along with standardization in coinage, measures and weights. This was a most visionary proposal.Stevin was the first scientist since Archimedes to make a significant new contribution to the fields of statics and hydrostatics. He was a true homo universalis. The impact of Stevin's works has been multilateral and worldwide, and it is evident in literature, science, politics and many other fields. Given the way science works today, it would be impossible for a single individual to make meaningful contributions in as many areas as Simon Stevin did. The purpose of this book is to introduce Simon Stevin and his work to the widest possible readership.In doing so, the authors have kept to established historical facts and critically underpinned scientific insights into Stevin and his work.
This is the first complete and accessible history of the work of Simon Stevin.
This is the first complete and accessible history of the work of Simon Stevin.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Southampton
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 230 mm
Width: 155 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84564-092-7 (9781845640927)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jozef T. Devreese is a professor in theoretical physics at the University of Antwerp and at the Technical University of Eindhoven. Guido Vanden Berghe is a professor in numerical mathematics at the University of Ghent. Both have numerous publications to their names, which also concern the history of science.
Content
Stevin's works mentioned in the textPrologue. The Low Countries in Stevin's dayChapter One. Simon Stevin and the RenaissanceMiddle Ages, Renaissance and the Modern Age; Printing; The universities; The Renaissance in art, literature, science and technology; Simon Stevin: Scholar and Engineer; Box 1: How did Stevin know the works of the ancient Greeks?Chapter Two. Simon Stevin, religious exile?The Bruges period; Box 1: Documents in the Bruges city archives; Box 2: Calvinism in Bruges between 1550 and 1584; Box 3: Important dates in Simon Stevin's life; Dedication to the Republic; Box 4: The University of Leiden; Box 5: A letter to the town council of Gdansk; Box 6: Maurice of Nassau; Married life and descendantsChapter Three. The man who 'invented' the decimal systemDecimal fractions for elementary calculations; Translations of Stevin's De Thiende; Uniform ways of counting and measuring; Box 1: The decimal system before and after Stevin; Box 2: An addition of decimal fractions; Box 3: Extracting roots; Box 4: Of weights and measures; Box 5: A chaotic monetary situation in the Low Countries; Box 6: Shakespeare and De Thiende; Box 7: The dollar and the dismeChapter Four. Engineer and InventorPatents; Box 1: Patent granted by the States of Holland on 17 February 1584; Mills; Box 2: The IJsselstein mill; Sluices; Hydraulic designs; Box 3: Extract from Van den handel der Waterschuyring onses Vaders Simon Stevin; Navigation; The Art of War (military science); Stevin as an architectChapter Five. Economist avant la lettreIntroduction; The Nieuwe Inventie; Box 1: Double-entry or Italian bookkeeping; The Tafelen van Interest; Box 2: Le grand parti; BookkeepingChapter Six. Wonder en is gheen wonderIntroduction; The structure of De Beghinselen der Weeghconst; Box 1: The clootcrans; De Weeghdaet; De Beghinselen des Waterwichts and the Anvang der Waterwichtdaet; Box 2: Stevin was there before Pascal; Box 3: The pressure of water on vertical and inclined walls; Box 4: Why do ships float?; Summary: the significance of Stevin's work in physicsChapter Seven. The link between Italian and French algebraIntroduction; Box 1: Quadratic, cubic and quartic equations; Box 2: Completing a square with an example given by Al-Khwarizmi (c. 800); Geometrical numbers; Algebraic numbers and the representation of polynomials; Equations; The Rule of AlgebraChapter Eight. Stevin's contribution to the Dutch languageStevin and the building of the Dutch language; Early printed editions of works on medicine and the natural sciences; Stevin's presence in the Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal; Neologisms and semantic neologismsChapter Nine. PerspectiveThe historical context and pioneering aspect of Stevin's Vande Verschaeuwing; A short description of Vande Deursichtighe; Maurice, Stevin and Durer; Stevin's followers: De Vries, 's Gravesande...; ImpactChapter Ten. An extraordinary didactic genius: Stevin's 'visible language'Introduction; Stevin's information graphics; Vanden HemelloopChapter Eleven. An unfinished compositionIntroduction; Stevin divides the octave into 12 equal intervals; Box 1: Explanation of the most important ideas in the Singconst; 'Now in order to divide the monochord geometrically...' and the 'Arithmetical Division of the Monochord', Temperament in Stevin's time and the placing of the frets on the neck of a lute; What Verheyen had to say...; The historical place of Stevin's tone systemChapter Twelve. The resonance of Simon Stevin and his workIntroduction; Box 1: The statue of Simon Stevin in Bruges; Box 2: Stevin's books in the antiquarian book world; Stevin's influence on some of his contemporaries; Box 3: Simon Stevin: an innovator and polymath; Later reactions of eminent scholarsEpilogueBibliography