Read more
Kim Williams invited me to publish a selection of conferences which I had presented at various occasions during my stay at the UCL and elsewhere. She selected some papers which refer to topics on the history of science, especially on the history of mechanics. My occupation with the history of science began through the mathematician Andreas Speiser, my uncle, at the time the General Editor of the Opera Omnia of Leonhard Euler, who invited me to edit volume III, 5 of the Opera, containing Euler's work on physical optics. I accepted this offer with great pride and indeed, the task gave me much pleasure and satisfaction. Of all the scientists with whom I entered into contact, aside from Andreas Speiser, I must mention especially Alexandre Koyré. I had the great fortune to meet him at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton where we were both guests during the same period. Koyré also introduced me into questions dealing with philosophy of science, an important field, though one that plays a minor role in this present volume. Later I was invited more and more often to give lectures concerning a given subject, or one I working on at the moment.
List of contents
The Beginning of the Theory of Elasticity from Galileo to Jacob Bernoulli.- The Second New Science in Galileo's Discorsi.- Huygens's Horologium Oscillatorium and Newton's Principia.- Newton's Principia.- The Science of Mechanics in the Eighteenth Century.- The Discovery of Rigid Body Dynamics.- Johann Bernoulli's Work on the Theory of Gravitation and the Weight of the Atmosphere.- The Kepler Problem from Newton to Johann Bernoulli.- Daniel Bernoulli.- Leonhard Euler: Mathematician, Physicist, Engineer.- The Principle of Relativity in Euler's Work.- Euler, the Principle of Relativity and the Fundamentals of Classical Mechanics.- Euler' s Anleitung zur Naturlehre.- Euler' s Work in Physical Optics.- Euler's Writings on Optics, Electricity and Magnetism.- The Distance of the Fixed Stars and the Riddle of the Sun's Radiation.- Johann Heinrich Lambert.- Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis.
Summary
Kim Williams invited me to publish a selection of conferences which I had presented at various occasions during my stay at the UCL and elsewhere. She selected some papers which refer to topics on the history of science, especially on the history of mechanics. My occupation with the history of science began through the mathematician Andreas Speiser, my uncle, at the time the General Editor of the Opera Omnia of Leonhard Euler, who invited me to edit volume III, 5 of the Opera, containing Euler’s work on physical optics. I accepted this offer with great pride and indeed, the task gave me much pleasure and satisfaction. Of all the scientists with whom I entered into contact, aside from Andreas Speiser, I must mention especially Alexandre Koyré. I had the great fortune to meet him at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton where we were both guests during the same period. Koyré also introduced me into questions dealing with philosophy of science, an important field, though one that plays a minor role in this present volume. Later I was invited more and more often to give lectures concerning a given subject, or one I working on at the moment.
Additional text
From the reviews:
“The book contains essays of David Speiser on the discovery of the principles of mechanics. These essays were written in the course of several decades and re-edited, in part translated and are presented here in a chronological order. … These essays will make a highly interesting reading and yield many and beautiful insights for anyone taking care for the development of one of the most important scientific fields.” (H. Muthsam, Monatshefte für Mathematik, Vol. 157 (1), May, 2009)
“This book features a selection of David Speiser’s best papers on the history and foundations of early modern mechanics. … The chapters are independent of one another, but the editors have chosen them so as to achieve good thematic unity and a good sense of historical development. Speiser’s historical work is well informed by his technical expertise as a practicing physicist.” (Dean Rickles, Mathematical Reviews, January, 2013)
Report
From the reviews:
"The book contains essays of David Speiser on the discovery of the principles of mechanics. These essays were written in the course of several decades and re-edited, in part translated and are presented here in a chronological order. ... These essays will make a highly interesting reading and yield many and beautiful insights for anyone taking care for the development of one of the most important scientific fields." (H. Muthsam, Monatshefte für Mathematik, Vol. 157 (1), May, 2009)
"This book features a selection of David Speiser's best papers on the history and foundations of early modern mechanics. ... The chapters are independent of one another, but the editors have chosen them so as to achieve good thematic unity and a good sense of historical development. Speiser's historical work is well informed by his technical expertise as a practicing physicist." (Dean Rickles, Mathematical Reviews, January, 2013)
