The uses of mathematical images in the seventeenth century, from Galileo to Newton
 
 
Description:  From long ago, historians have shown the importance of images (emblems books, jesuit propaganda, etc.) during the seventeenth century. Historians of science also emphasized the role played by Optics and its representations. But there has been quite an absence about the role played by images as well as illustrations in the presentation of mathematics in books or in thesis. Using a thesis held in Louvain in 1624, and presenting what we may call Galileo's laws, I will show how images, in this thesis, bring far more than the written text.It paves the way to a study of frontispices and vignettes used for mathematical books from Galileo to Newton. A book by Patricia Radelet-de Grave and Jean Dhombres, "Une mécanique donnée à voir; Les thÚses de statique de Grégoire de Saint-Vincent", is to appear soon by Brepols.
Start Date:  2008-03-13
Start Time:   15:00
Speaker:  Jean Dhombres (CNRS, EHESS, Paris)
Institution:  CNRS, EHESS, Paris
Place:  2.4 - Departamento de Matemática
See more:   <Main>   <Thematic Line - History of Mathematics>  
 
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