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Swinging and Rolling

Unveiling Galileo's unorthodox path from a challenging problem to a new science

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jochen Büttner

    1. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

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  • Offers a completely novel interpretation of the evolution of Galileo’s new science of motion
  • Exposes Galileo’s pivotal attempt to relate swinging and rolling motion
  • Provides a rigorous reexamination of Galileos working notes

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 335)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. Introduction

    • Jochen Büttner
    Pages 1-22

  3. Novel Insights About Accelerated Motion: The Challenge of Swinging and Rolling

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23
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    2. Before Natural Acceleration

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 25-60

    3. A Glimpse at a Challenging Research Agenda: Galileo to Guidobaldo del Monte in 1602

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 61-73

    4. Sparking the Investigation of Naturally Accelerated Motion: The Pendulum Plane Experiment

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 75-95

    5. Squaring the Pendulum’s Arc: Motion Along Broken Chords

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 97-143

    6. Swinging and Rolling Revisited: Motion Along Broken Chords and the Pendulum Plane Experiment

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 145-168

    7. Accumulating Insights: The Problem of Motion Along Broken Chords Driving Conceptual Development

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 169-207

    8. Toward a Foundation: The Ex Mechanicis Proof of the Law of Chords

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 209-239

    9. Whatever Happened to Swinging and Rolling: Faint Echoes and a Late Insight

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 241-268

  4. Novel Insights and Old Concepts: From Exploration to Formalization

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 269-269
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    2. Toward a New Science: Gathering Results and the Rise and Demise of a Dynamical Foundation

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 271-316

    3. Toward a New Science: Axiomatization and a New Foundation

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 317-358

    4. Conclusion: The Emergence and Early Evolution of Galileo’s New Science of Motion

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 359-368

    5. Appendix: Folio Pages

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 369-458

    6. Appendix: Documents

      • Jochen Büttner
      Pages 459-470

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 471-472
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Keywords

About this book

This volume explores the reorganisation of knowledge taking place in the course of Galileo's research process extending over a period of more than thirty years, pursued within a network of exchanges with his contemporaries, and documented by a vast collection of research notes. It has revealed the challenging objects that motivated and shaped Galileo's thinking and closely followed the knowledge reorganization engendered by theses challenges. It has thus turned out, for example, that the problem of reducing the properties of pendulum motion to the laws governing naturally accelerated motion on inclined planes was the mainspring for the formation of Galileo's comprehensive theory of naturally accelerated motion.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

    Jochen Büttner

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