mathematics in history and culture in SearchWorks catalog (2024)

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Author/Creator

Sonar, Th. (Thomas), author.

Contributor

Knobloch, Eberhard, writer of afterword.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• Intro; About the Author; Preface of the Author; Acknowledgements; Preface of the Editors; Contents; 1 An Attunement; 1.1 What is it All About?; 1.2 Slope, Derivative, and Differential Quotient; 1.2.1 The Product Rule; 1.2.2 The Quotient Rule; 1.2.3 The Chain Rule; 1.2.4 The Rule of Differentiating the Inverse Function; 1.3 Area, Integral, and Antidifferentiation; 1.4 Indivisibles and Infinitesimals; 1.5 ... and What is it Good For?; 2 'On ye Shoulders of Giants'; 2.1 Who were the Giants?; 2.2 England in the 17th Century; 2.3 John Wallis; 2.4 Isaac Barrow

• 2.5 France and the Netherlands in the 17th Century2.5.1 France on its Way to Absolutism; 2.5.2 The Netherlands and the Persistent Conflict with Spain and England; 2.6 Blaise Pascal; 2.7 Christiaan Huygens; 3 The Warriors Grow Up; 3.1 The Physicist: Isaac Newton; 3.1.1 Childhood and Youth; 3.1.2 The Lonely Student; 3.1.3 The Way to the Infinitesimal Calculus; 3.1.4 The 'anni mirabiles'; 3.1.5 The Professor in the Lucasian Chair; 3.1.6 Till Death: The Fight with Robert Hooke; 3.2 The Lawyer: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz; 3.2.1 Childhood and Youth; 3.2.2 The Student

• 3.2.3 The Young Doctor Utriusque Iuris3.2.4 Lawyer and Diplomat; 4 The Cold War Begins; 4.1 The Mathematician: Leibniz in Paris; 4.1.1 The First Journey to London; 4.1.2 The Aftermath of the Pell Affair; 4.1.3 Leibniz Conquers Mathematics; 4.2 The Priority Quarrels of Huygens; 4.2.1 The Quarrel Concerning the Rectification of Curves; 4.2.2 Turbulent Times: Hooke versus Huygens; 4.2.3 Atmospheric Disturbances; 4.3 Times are Changing; 4.3.1 Leibniz's Letter of 30th March 1675 and its Immediate Consequence; 4.3.2 Analysis Becomes Calculus; 4.3.3 Leibniz Gains a Companion

• 4.4 De quadratura arithmetica5 The Apparent Relaxation; 5.1 The Beginning of the Correspondence: Epistola prior; 5.2 The Second Journey to London; 5.3 The Correspondence Ends: Epistola posterior; 5.4 The Front Line in the Year 1677; 6 The Aftermath of the Principia Mathematica; 6.1 The Warrior's Careers up to 1687; 6.1.1 The Privy Councillor Leibniz
• Stranded in Hanover; 6.1.2 Isaac Newton
• The Hermit in Cambridge; 6.2 Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica; 6.2.1 The Prehistory; 6.2.2 The Formation Phase; 6.2.3 Leibniz in Newton's Thought; 6.2.4 The Principia Published

• 6.2.5 Mr Leibniz Lays a Fuse6.3 The Reception of the Principia; 6.3.1 The Situation in England; 6.3.2 Huygens as Recipient; 6.3.3 Leibniz as Recipient; 6.3.4 Newton's Attack on Leibniz's Tentamen; 6.3.5 The First Reaction in France; 6.4 The Scholium Dedicated to Leibniz; 7 The War is getting hot; 7.1 Newton in a Political Crisis; 7.2 A Friend Appeared; 7.3 Isaac Newton and his Monkey; 7.3.1 A Strange Couple; 7.3.2 A New Crisis; 7.3.3 Leibniz Back in Newton's Thoughts; 7.3.4 The Monkey Bites; 7.4 Wallis, Flamsteed and the Way Into the Mint; 7.4.1 Wallis Jars on Newton's Nerves

Summary

This book provides a thrilling history of the famous priority dispute between Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Isaac Newton, presenting the episode for the first time in the context of cultural history. It introduces readers to the background of the dispute, details its escalation, and discusses the aftermath of the big divide, which extended well into recent times. One of the unique features of the book is that the mathematics behind the story is very intelligibly explained - an approach that offers general readers interested in the history of sciences and mathematics a window into the world of these two giants in their field. From the epilogue to the German edition by Eberhard Knobloch: Thomas Sonar has traced the emergence and the escalation of this conflict, which was heightened by Leibniz's rejection of Newton's gravitation theory, in a grandiose, excitingly written monograph. With absolute competence, he also explains the mathematical context so that non-mathematicians will also profit from the book. Quod erat demonstrandum! From the reviews for the German language edition ... This book provides a vivid and easy-reading picture of many political and scientific aspects of the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, and constitutes an excellent guide to the existing secondary literature for laymen as well as for specialists ... Stefan Neuwirth in: Zentralblatt MATH 1343 -- 1 (1343.01005) An extremely readable book on one of the most memorable episodes in the history of sciences. Manfred Jacobi in: Physik in unserer Zeit, Jg. 47, Heft 5, September 2016.-- Provided by publisher.

Subjects

Newton, Isaac, 1642-1727.

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1646-1716.

Calculus > History > 18th century.

MATHEMATICS > Calculus.

MATHEMATICS > Mathematical Analysis.

Calculus.

Publication date

2018

Copyright date

2018

ISBN

9783319725635 (electronic bk.)

3319725637 (electronic bk.)

9783319725611