Readings in the History of Science

The history of science meetup group has opened a new chapter. We've now discussed scientific developments up to and including Newton at some length. The focus going forward will be post-Newton. The 19th century was a golden age for analytical work in mathematics. Correspondingly analytical mechanics and thermodynamics also developed and, not surprisingly, these met the needs of the burgeoning industrial revolution. New concepts of work and energy were developed. These and related issues will be the focus of our new chapter.

• The overriding matter at issue in the late 18th century debates about mathematical rigor centered on algebra in calculus. The main article we'll discuss in our June 11 meeting is Craig Fraser's 'The calculus as algebraic analysis'. The Fraser article is here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41133857?seq=1 At the beginning of the meeting we'll finish up concluding comments on the article we covered last week, Philip Kitcher's 'Mathematical rigor: Who needs it? We got to the point where he was starting to answer the question he posed for himself.

Subsequent readings will include:
Jan Rychlewski, ‘The origins of Newton’s mechanics. mass, force, and gravity’
Sandro Caparrini and Craig Fraser, ‘Mechanics in the Eighteenth Century’
Helmut Pulte, ‘Jacobi’s Criticism of Lagrange: The Changing Role of Mathematics. If you need a copy of the Janiak or Ducheyne articles send a note to [kacheolme@gmail.com](mailto:kacheolme@gmail.com) with Janiak Ducheyne in the subject line.