Thinking with Objects: The Transformation of Mechanics in the Seventeenth Century

404 Pages·2006·10.507 MB·English

by  Domenico Bertoloni Meli

Thinking with Objects
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Thinking with Objects
The Transformation of Mechanics
in the Seventeenth Century
domenico bertoloni meli
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
©2006The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2006
Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid-free paper
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bertoloni Meli, Domenico.
Thinking with objects : the transformation ofmechanics in the seventeenth century /
Domenico Bertoloni Meli.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-8018-8426-8(hardcover : alk. paper) —isbn0-8018-8427-6(pbk. : alk. paper)
1.Mechanics—History—17th century. 2.Motion—History—17th century. 3.Physics—
History—17th century. I.Title.
qc125.2.m452006
531.09(cid:1)032—dc22 2006002642
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Illustration credits:1.1,1.2,1.5, by courtesy ofthe Biblioteca Oliveriana, Pesaro; 3.9,6.1,6.2,8.3,8.4, by cour-
tesy ofthe Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington; 4.9,6.7,6.8,6.9,8.11, by courtesy ofthe Burndy
Library, Dibner Institute.
To Alexander and Sofia
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contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Beyond Inertia: From Laws to Objects 1
2. Motion and Mechanics 6
3. The Role of Mathematics 9
4. Experience and Experiment 10
5. Practitioners, Sites, and Forms of Communication 12
6. Structure and Organization ofthe Present Work 15
1 Machines in the Field, in the Book, and in the Study 18
1.1 Between Classical Theory and Engineering Practice 18
1.2 Machines, Equilibrium, and Motion 21
1.3 The Balance ofdal Monte and the Problem of Rigor 26
1.4 Pulleys and the Contingency of Matter 32
1.5 Rival Traditions on the Inclined Plane 35
2 Floating Bodies and a Mathematical Science of Motion 40
2.1 Some Features of Archimedes’ Floating Bodies 40
2.2 ReadingFloating Bodies 42
2.3 Benedetti against the Philosophers 45
2.4 Galileo’s Early Speculations 50
2.5 Mazzoni, Stevin, and Galileo 61
3 The Formulation of New Mathematical Sciences 66
3.1 The Broadening ofthe Mechanical Tradition 66
3.2 Galileo at Padua and the Science of Motion 68
3.3 From Buoyancy to the Science of Waters 80
3.4 Motion between Heaven and Earth 86
3.5 The Science of the Resistance of Materials 91
3.6 The Science of Motion 96
viii Contents
4 Novel Reflections and Quantitative Experiments 105
4.1 Different Readings of Galileo 105
4.2 Mersenne’s Harmonieand the Dialogo 108
4.3 Rethinking Galileo’s Axiomatic Structure 117
4.4 Continuity and the Law of Fall 120
4.5 Trials with Projectiles, Pierced Cisterns, and Beams 126
4.6 The Experiments and Tables of Riccioli 131
5 The Motion and Collision of Particles 135
5.1 The Rise of the Mechanical Philosophy 135
5.2 Mechanics and the Mechanical Philosophy 138
5.3 Beeckman, Galileo, and Descartes 140
5.4 Motion and Its Laws 145
5.5 From the Balance to Impact: Beeckman, Marci, and Descartes 149
5.6 The Workings of the Cartesian Universe 156
Intermezzo. Generational and Institutional Changes 161
6 The Equilibrium and Motion of Liquids 166
6.1 A Characterization of a Research Tradition 166
6.2 Studies around the Time ofthe Cimento Academy 168
6.3 Pressure and Equilibrium in Pascal and Boyle 173
6.4 Studying the Motion of Waters North ofthe Alps 176
6.5 Guglielmini and the Bologna Scene 181
6.6 Experiments Combining Pressure and Speed 187
7 Projected, Oscillating, and Orbiting Bodies 190
7.1 The Tools of Investigation 190
7.2 The Analyses of Orbital Motion by Fabri and Borelli 191
7.3 Falling Bodies on a Moving Earth 197
7.4 Projectiles and Air Resistance 202
7.5 Huygens’s Pendulum 205
7.6 English Approaches to Orbital Motion 218
8 Colliding Bodies, Springs, and Beams 224
8.1 The Emergence of Elasticity 224
8.2 Boyle and Elasticity 225
8.3 The Transformation of the Impact Rules 227
8.4 Springs between Technology and Cosmology 240
8.5 Bending and Breaking Beams 247
9 A New World-System 255
9.1 Teamwork and Anti-Cartesianism 255
9.2 Halley, Wren, Hooke, and Newton 257
9.3 ThePrincipia’sStructure and Conceptual Framework 261
Contents ix
9.4 The Role of Experiments 267
9.5 The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy 277
9.6 A New World-System: Newton and Flamsteed 283
10 Causes, Conservation, and the New Mathematics 288
10.1 Mechanics at the Turn of the Century 288
10.2 The New Analysis 290
10.3 Conservation 295
10.4 Early Responses to Newton’sPrincipia 298
10.5 The New Analysis and Newton’sPrincipia 302
Conclusion. Mapping the Transformations of Mechanics 308
Notes 317
References 355
Index 379