Abstract
It is a commonplace to regard eighteenth century as the triumph of the Newtonian scientific program. However, in the past few years, historians of science have increasingly acknowledged that eighteenth-century science cannot be resumed as the age of Newtonianism. In the case of experimental physics, assuming that Newton’s world views prevailed throughout the eighteenth century is a naïve historiographic interpretation. At this period, different areas of science were not clearly defined and well developed in the same extension. One cannot deny the influence of Newtonian studies on optics and word view on celestial mechanics studies all over the Europe, however, in order to develop a broader apprehension of modern science development it is necessary to look upon other realms and avoid focusing too intently upon Newtonian celestial mechanics.
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Notes
- 1.
There is a controversy over the years of publication of these volumes. Heilbron, following the Catalogue Général des Livres Imprimés de la Bibliothèque Nationale, states that the six volumes were published between 1743 and 1748 (Heilbron, 1981). Whilst the leading biographer of Nollet, Jean Torlais, says that the first two volumes were published in 1743, the next two in 1748, the fifth in 1755 and the last in 1764 (Torlais, 1954, p. 257). In his doctoral thesis, Ramez Maluf Bahige consulted original reviews on the Leçons and Académie approvals of the volumes published in 1755 and 1764 (Maluf, 1985, p. 175). As I have not had the opportunity to consult the original first editions of the volumes, I cannot take sides on this issue.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to a Dibner Library Research Grant I could access Nollet’s originals at Dibner Library of History of Science and Technology in Washington-DC, USA.
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Silva, C.C. (2011). Jean Antoine Nollet’s Contributions to the Institutionalization of Physics During the 18th Century. In: Krause, D., Videira, A. (eds) Brazilian Studies in Philosophy and History of Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 290. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9422-3_8
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