EAN: 9783319565286

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF PRESSURE - ALAN F CHALMERS...

This monograph investigates the development of hydrostatics as a science. In the process  it
sheds new light on the nature of science and its origins in the Scientific Revolution. Readers
will come to see that the history of hydrostatics reveals subtle ways in which the science of
the seventeenth century differed from previous periods. The key  the author argues  is the new
insights into the concept of pressure that emerged during the Scientific Revolution. This came
about due to contributions from such figures as Simon Stevin  Pascal  Boyle and Newton. The
author compares their work with Galileo and Descartes  neither of whom grasped the need for a
new conception of pressure. As a result  their contributions to hydrostatics were unproductive.
The story ends with Newton insofar as his version of hydrostatics set the subject on its modern
course. He articulated a technical notion of pressure that was up to the task. Newton compared
the mathematical way in hydrostatics and the experimental way  and sided with the former. The
subtleties that lie behind Newton's position throws light on the way in which developments in
seventeenth-century science simultaneously involved mathematization and experimentation.This
book serves as an example of the degree of conceptual change that new sciences often require.
It will be of interest to those involved in the study of history and philosophy of science. It
will also appeal to physicists as well as interested general readers.

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