ENGLISH

From Summetria to Symmetry: The Making of a Revolutionary Scientific Concept

By Giora Hon , Bernard R. Goldstein

Book information

Publisher
Springer
Year
2008
ISBN
9781402084478, 9781402084485, 1402084471
LCC
Q172.5.S95 H66 2008
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (3352658 bytes)
Series
Archimedes: New Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology 20
Pages
336\337
Topic
History
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07
Исторические дисциплины;История науки и техники

Description

The concept of symmetry is inherent to modern science, and its evolution has a complex history that richly exemplifies the dynamics of scientific change. This study is based on primary sources, presented in context: the authors examine closely the trajectory of the concept in the mathematical and scientific disciplines as well as its trajectory in art and architecture. The principal goal is to demonstrate that, despite the variety of usages in many different domains, there is a conceptual unity underlying the invocation of symmetry in the period from antiquity to the 1790s which is distinct from the scientific usages of this term that first emerged in France at the end of the 18th century. The key figure in revolutionizing the concept of symmetry is the mathematician, Adrien-Marie Legendre. His achievements in solid geometry (1794) are contrasted with the views of the philosopher, Immanuel Kant, on the directionality of space (1768).

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