Overview
- Original view on the history of kinematics
- Written in an accessible style
- Appeals to philosophers, historians of science, and scientists
Part of the book series: History of Mechanism and Machine Science (HMMS, volume 46)
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About this book
This book covers the history of kinematics from the Greeks to the 20th century. It shows that the subject has its roots in geometry, mechanics and mechanical engineering and how it became in the 19th century a coherent field of research, for which Ampère coined the name kinematics. The story starts with the important Greek tradition of solving construction problems by means of kinematically defined curves and the use of kinematical models in Greek astronomy. As a result in 17th century mathematics motion played a crucial role as well, and the book pays ample attention to it. It is also discussed how the concept of instantaneous velocity, unknown to the Greeks, etc was introduced in the late Middle Ages and how in the 18th century, when classical mechanics was formed, kinematical theorems concerning the distribution of velocity in a solid body moving in space were proved. The book shows that in the 19th century, against the background ofthe industrial revolution, the theory of machines and thus the kinematics of mechanisms received a great deal of attention. In the final analysis, this led to the birth of the discipline.
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Keywords
Table of contents (19 chapters)
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Front Matter
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Teun Koetsier is a mathematician and philosopher, specialist in the history and philosophy of mathematics. He served as associate professor at VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2019 he was appointed honorary member of IFToMM, and in the same year he received the “Engineer Historian Award” from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for his Springer book “The Ascent of GIM, the Global Intelligent Machine”.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: A History of Kinematics from Zeno to Einstein
Book Subtitle: On the Role of Motion in the Development of Mathematics
Authors: Teun Koetsier
Series Title: History of Mechanism and Machine Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39872-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-39871-1Published: 27 September 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-39874-2Published: 28 September 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-39872-8Published: 26 September 2023
Series ISSN: 1875-3442
Series E-ISSN: 1875-3426
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 345
Number of Illustrations: 176 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Mathematical Sciences, History of Science, Mechanical Engineering