ENGLISH

Nicole Oresme's De visione stellarum (On Seeing the Stars): A Critical Edition of Oresme's Treatise on Optics and Atmospheric Refraction, with an Introduction, ... and Early Modern Science) (German Edition)

Book information

Year
2006
ISBN
9004153705, 9789004153707, 9789047410898
LCC
QC353 .O7413 2007
Open Library ID
OL22746987M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1302453 bytes)
Pages
324\334
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

In this critical edition and translation of Nicole Oresme's "On Seeing the Stars", the renowned 14th-century natural philosopher proposes that the stars are not where they seem. And perhaps nothing is where it seems. In this earliest treatise on atmospheric refraction, Oresme uses optics and infinitesimals to help solve this vexing problem of astronomy. He is the first to propose that light travels along a curve through the atmosphere two centuries before Hooke and Newton, who are credited with the discovery. Further, he calls all sense data into doubt. Oresme's argument concerning the curvature of light is a major milestone in the history of science, confirming that Oresme was one of the most innovative scientists of the pre-modern world.

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