This book seeks to understand what bring to pass the birth of modern physics by focusing upon the formation of the concept of force. This would be the first book to note the important role magnetism has played in this process. Indeed, the force between celestial bodies, before the introduction of the Isaac Newtonian gravitational force, is first introduced by Johannes Kepler by analogy with the magnetic force. Moreover, this book, by concentrating our attention on the magnetism, fully describes the developments and the recognition of the force concept during the Middle Ages. The detailed description of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is a strong point of this book. By discussing and emphasizing on the role accomplished by the magnetic force, this book makes clear the connection between the natural magic and the modern experimental physics. This book will open up a new aspect of the birth of modern physics.
Contents:
Preface
Introduction
Antiquity and the Middle Ages:
Ancient Greece: The Science of Magnetism is Born
The Hellenistic Age
The Days of the Roman Empire
Christianity in the Middle Ages
The Discovery of Magnetic Directionality
Thomas Aquinas and His Understanding of Magnetism
Roger Bacon and the Propagation of Magnetic Force
Petrus Peregrinus and HisLetter Concerning the Magnet
Renaissance:
Nicolaus Cusanus and the Quantification of Magnetic Force
The Rediscovery of Things Ancient: Magic in the Early Renaissance Period
The Age of Exploration and the Discovery of Magnetic Declination
Robert Norman andThe Newe Attractive
Mining and the Continued Peculiarity of Magnetism
Paracelsus and Magnet Therapy
Changes in Magical Thought during the Late Renaissance
Della Porta's Investigations into Magnetism
The Dawn of the Modern Age:
William Gilbert'sOn the Magnet
Johannes Kepler and the Magnetical Philosophy
Seventeenth-century Mechanism and Notions of Force
Robert Boyle and the Transformation of Mechanism in Britain
Magnetism and Gravity: Hooke and Newton
Epilogue: Ascertaining the Laws of Magnetic Force
Notes
Bibliography
Readership:History students, philosophy students, general public.
Keywords: History;Magnetism;Philosophy;Greek;Modern PhysicsReview:0
