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 history of science meetup has been meeting every two weeks. However our
next meeting will be September 24 from 6pm to 8pm (Pacific time). We are
reading and discussing Judith Grabiner’s book,
‘The origins of Cauchy’s rigorous calculus’
. We are in chapter 4 on continuity (approximately page 95). We will
continue in chapter 4 rather briskly, mostly hitting on the high points..Chapter 5
on the derivative is arguably the most important chapter in the book and we will
spend the rest of the session, and a following session, on it. If you wish to join us
you can get a pdf of the book by requesting it from kachelme@gmail.com
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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.