'Magic is No Magic'

'Magic is No Magic'

Author: Jozef T. Devreese

Publisher: WIT Press

Published: 2008-11-12

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1845643917

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book gives a comprehensive picture of the activities and the creative heritage of Simon Stevin, who made outstanding contributions to various fields of science, in particular physics and mathematics. Among the striking spectrum of his ingenious achievements, it is worth emphasizing that Simon Stevin is rightly considered as the father of the system of decimal fractions as it is in use today. Stevin also urged the universal use of decimal fractions along with standardization in coinage, measures and weights. This was a most visionary proposal. Stevin was the first since Archimedes to make a significant new contribution to statics and hydrostatics. He truly was "homo universalis." The impact of Stevin's work has been multilateral and worldwide, including literature (William Shakespeare), science (from Christian Huygens to Richard Feynman), politics (Thomas Jefferson) and many other fields. Thomas Jefferson, together with Alexander Hamilton and Robert Morris, advocated introducing the decimal monetary units in the USA with reference to the book "De Thiende" by S. Stevin and in particular to the English translation of the book: "Disme: The Art of Tenths" by Robert Norton. In accordance with the title of this translation, the name of the first silver coin issued in the USA in 1792 was 'disme' (since 1837 the spelling changed to ('dime'). It was considered as a symbol of national independence of the USA.


Rethinking Stevin, Stevin Rethinking

Rethinking Stevin, Stevin Rethinking

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-10-20

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9004432914

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book studies the Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin (1548-1620) as a new type of ‘man of knowledge’. Stevin exemplifies a wider trend of polymathy in the early modern period. Polymaths played a crucial role in the transformation of European learning.


Simon Stevin

Simon Stevin

Author: E.J. Dijksterhuis

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 9401032076

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The works of Simon Stevin are most interesting for the history of science, because they have such a wide scope and reflect so clearly the development of scientific knowledge around 1600 in central Europe. The recent publi cation of his Principal Works, with an English translation, has again attracted attention to his fascinating personality. The book on Stevin by Professor E. J. Dijksterhuis, originally published in the Dutch language, is an excellent introduction to the life and works of this remarkable Netherlander. Dijksterhuis prepared a somewhat condensed English edition, adapted to the foreign reader. Because of his untimely death, publication had to be deferred until the undersigned were able to undertake the editorial work. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, Amsterdam, allowed a grant, through which a linguistic revision of the text was made possible. We are very grateful to Miss C. Dikshoorn for the care with which she carried out this task and prepared the text for the press. A few supplementary notes have been added, for which we are personally responsible and which have been marked with our initials (R.H. or M.M.). Messrs Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, who published the original Dutch edition, have kindly agreed to bring out also the English version and have given all their attention to this publication. R. HOOYKAAS M. G. J. MINNAERT INTRODUCTION Modern science was born in the period beginning with Copernicus's work De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (l543) and ending with Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687).


'De Huysbou'

'De Huysbou'

Author: Charles van den Heuvel

Publisher: Edita-The Publishing House of the Royal

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789069844329

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Simon Stevin (1548-1620) was one of the leading scholars of his day. As a scientist and engineer, he carved a career for himself in the breakaway Dutch Republic of the Northern Low Countries, developing theoretical innovations in mathematics and physics as well as practical innovations in civil engineering and military technology. Less well known is the project that Stevin worked on during the last twenty years of his life, a treatise on architecture and town planning. The earliest mention of Huysbou occurs in the first volume of Stevin’s work on mathematics and other natural sciences, Wisconstighe Ghedachtenissen (‘Mathematical Memoirs’), published in 1605. This book deals with Stevin’s unfinished, and until now only partly revealed architectural treatise. The discussion of the Huysbou opens by exploring Stevin’s visions on science and methods to explain the origins of the ideas contained in the work. The following chapters examine Stevin’s notions of symmetry and order in architecture, his views on building methods, the role of water and the use of visual presentations of architecture. Finally the commentary surveys Stevin’s contribution to architectural theory and the reputation enjoyed by Huysbou in the Low Countries and in the broader European context. The second section of the book presents Stevin’s work on architecture and town planning. A first attempt has made to recreate the envisaged Huysbou as accurately as possible. The third section contains the appendices: fragments of Stevin’s texts on architecture and town planning, a glossary and an extensive bibliography.


A Garden of Quanta

A Garden of Quanta

Author: Jiro Arafune

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 525

ISBN-13: 9812384456

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book is a collection of reviews and essays about the recent wide-ranging developments in the areas of quantum physics. The articles have mostly been written at the graduate level, but some are accessible to advanced undergraduates. They will serve as good introductions for beginning graduate students in quantum physics who are looking for directions. Aspects of mathematical physics, quantum field theories and statistical physics are emphasized.


Galileo Unbound

Galileo Unbound

Author: David D. Nolte

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-07-12

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0192528505

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Galileo Unbound traces the journey that brought us from Galileo's law of free fall to today's geneticists measuring evolutionary drift, entangled quantum particles moving among many worlds, and our lives as trajectories traversing a health space with thousands of dimensions. Remarkably, common themes persist that predict the evolution of species as readily as the orbits of planets or the collapse of stars into black holes. This book tells the history of spaces of expanding dimension and increasing abstraction and how they continue today to give new insight into the physics of complex systems. Galileo published the first modern law of motion, the Law of Fall, that was ideal and simple, laying the foundation upon which Newton built the first theory of dynamics. Early in the twentieth century, geometry became the cause of motion rather than the result when Einstein envisioned the fabric of space-time warped by mass and energy, forcing light rays to bend past the Sun. Possibly more radical was Feynman's dilemma of quantum particles taking all paths at once — setting the stage for the modern fields of quantum field theory and quantum computing. Yet as concepts of motion have evolved, one thing has remained constant, the need to track ever more complex changes and to capture their essence, to find patterns in the chaos as we try to predict and control our world.


Hidden Secrets of Belgium

Hidden Secrets of Belgium

Author: Derek Blyth

Publisher: Uitgeverij Luster

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789460582141

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

- One if the first titles in the new Hidden Secrets series - countries and regions- Follows on from the phenomenally successful 500 Hidden Secrets series which focuses on cities around the worldJournalist Derek Blyth was born in the U.K. but has lived in Belgium for more than 25 years. He has written countless articles about Belgian cities (for example as editor-in-chief of The Bulletin) and books like Flemish Cities Explored. He is the author of The 500 Hidden Secrets of Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, and Flanders Fields and the Belgian Coast. This brand new guide is his personal ode to the most beautiful and intriguing spots in what he calls 'the world's strangest country'. He shares secrets such as: - 3 weird rocky outcrops - the 3 most dreamy castles to visit - 4 places to see eccentric art - the 6 most bizarre buildings - 5 adventurous Ardennes hikes... and much more.


The Logic of Machines and Structures

The Logic of Machines and Structures

Author: Paul Sandori

Publisher: Courier Dover Publications

Published: 2016-09-21

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0486807002

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This study focuses on statics' original simplicity as an exercise in logic, without resort to extensive mathematical detail. Discussions of significant historical discoveries offer an enjoyable, useful view of the field. 1982 edition.