Mathematics and its Applications to Science and Natural Philosophy in the Middle Ages
Essays in Honour of Marshall Clagett

Eleven distinguished historians of science explore natural philosophy and mathematics in the Middle Ages.

Edward Grant (Edited by), John Emery Murdoch (Edited by)

9780521141949, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 1 April 2010

352 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg

Originally published in 1987, this important synthesis represented the first effort by modern scholars to convey the variety of ways in which medieval scientists and natural philosophers used mathematics and mathematical modes of thought to describe natural phenomena. Eleven distinguished historians of science contributed original essays on the application of mathematics to natural philosophy, astronomy, cosmology, optics and medicine. The book is a fitting tribute to Professor Marshall Clagett of The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, for his significant contributions to the history of medieval science.

List of contributors
Introduction Edward Grant and John E. Murdoch
Pure Mathematics: 1. The medieval tradition of Archimedes' Sphere and Cylinder Wilbur Knorr
Applied Mathematics: 2. Colonizing the world for mathematics: the diversity of medieval strategies A. George Molland
Part I. Natural Philosophy: 3. Mathematical physics and imagination in the work of the Oxford Calculators: Roger Swineshead's On Natural Motions Edith D. Sylla
4. Thomas Bradwardine: mathematics and continuity in the fourteenth century John E. Murdoch
Part II. Astronomy and Cosmology: 5. Plinian astronomical diagrams in the early Middle Ages Bruce Eastwood
6. Coordinates and categories: the graphical representation of functions in medieval astronomy J. D. North
7. Eccentrics and epicycles in medieval cosmology Edward Grant
Part III. Optics: 8. Psychology versus mathematics: Ptolemy and Alhazen on the moon illusion A. I. Sabra
9. Roger Bacon and the origins of perspectiva in the West David C. Lindberg
10. Mathematics and experiement in Witelo's Perspectiva Sabetai Unguru
Part IV. Medicine: 11. The two faces of a medical career: Jordanus de Turre of Motpellier Michael R. McVaugh
Publications of Marshall Clagett
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]