The Equilibrium Controversy
Guidobaldo del Monte's Critical Notes on the Mechanics of Jordanus and Benedetti and their Historical and Conceptual Backgrounds
1st Edition
Published on 18. January 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
388 pages
978-3-86931-959-9 (ISBN)
Description
This study, the second volume of the series "Sources" of the "Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge," reviews a historical discussion about the question of whether a balance in equilibrium, after having been deflected, returns to its original position. This question captured the attention of philosophers and scientists for almost two millennia, from Greek antiquity to the sixteenth century when the "equilibrium controversy" became a central question among scholars.
Two new sources related to this controversy are presented: an annotated copy of Jordanus de Nemore's "Liber de ponderibus" edited by Petrus Apianus in 1533 and an annotated copy of Giovanni Battista Benedetti's "Diversarum speculationum mathematicarum et physicarum liber" from 1585. Both works contain handwritten marginal notes by Guidobaldo del Monte, author of the most influential early modern text on mechanics.
A detailed analysis of these sources, their prehistory, and their contexts shows that the "equilibrium controversy" only scratched the surface of a much deeper conceptual crisis of early modern mechanics that was triggered by the introduction of the medieval concept of "positional heaviness" into early modern discussions. This crisis helped to establish fundamental insights on which Galileo eventually built his theory of mechanics as well as his theory of motion.
Two new sources related to this controversy are presented: an annotated copy of Jordanus de Nemore's "Liber de ponderibus" edited by Petrus Apianus in 1533 and an annotated copy of Giovanni Battista Benedetti's "Diversarum speculationum mathematicarum et physicarum liber" from 1585. Both works contain handwritten marginal notes by Guidobaldo del Monte, author of the most influential early modern text on mechanics.
A detailed analysis of these sources, their prehistory, and their contexts shows that the "equilibrium controversy" only scratched the surface of a much deeper conceptual crisis of early modern mechanics that was triggered by the introduction of the medieval concept of "positional heaviness" into early modern discussions. This crisis helped to establish fundamental insights on which Galileo eventually built his theory of mechanics as well as his theory of motion.
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Persons
Author
Jürgen Renn is Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Honorary Professor for the History of Science at the Humboldt-University Berlin, Honorary Professor for Physics at the Free University Berlin, Adjunct Professor for Philosophy and Physics at Boston University. His research focuses on the history of early modern mechanics, the history of relativity theory, and the interaction between cognitive and contextual factors in the history of science.
Dr. Peter Damerow was a research scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. His research focused on the history of science and education, individual and historical development of cognition, genesis of writing and arithmetic, history of mathematics and physics in the ancient and early modern periods. He sadly passed away in November 2011.