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

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.

Originally published in 1987, this important synthesis represents 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.