Austin Fullerton History of Mathematics 8.1 Essay 17th Century Mathematics The seventeenth century is known as the fountainhead of modern mathematics. In this brief essay I will highlight the key mathematicians who carried the torch through this mathematical era: Galileo Galilei, Francois Vieta, Simon Stevin, John Napier, Johannes Kepler, and Tycho Brahe. Galileo Galilei, commonly just referred to as Galileo, is said to be the most well-known figure from the 1600s. His first independent discovery was the isochronism of the pendulum–each period takes the same length of time. Much of the section about Galileo, however, focuses on the nasty controversy regarding his research in and support of copernicanism–notion that the earth is not the center of all astronomical motions. This blew up because it contradicted the teachings of Aristotle, Ptolemy, and the Catholic Church. The book says, “moving the earth was like displacing God’s throne.” Ironically, Galileo used a miracle from the book of Joshua to credit his theory. Nonetheless, he was moreless disowned by the Church until a new Pope was elected in 1623. Following this, Galileo wrote the popular book, “Dialogue” which again, argued in favor of Copernicanism ideals and is said to be a subtle mockery of the Pope. The Church was furious as they convicted Galileo of heresy and would not admit that they wrongfully condemned Galileo until 1992, over 300 years. Besides this interesting dispute, a good summary of the impact Galileo had on mathematics was his challenging of the notion that mathematical structure of the universe is not inherent; instead, nature is beyond our logic, but can be organized into patterns with the use of mathematics. Austin Fullerton History of Mathematics 8.1 Essay Other intellectuals of the time contributed to what mathematics is today. Vieta suggested the use of letters as symbols for known and unknown variables. Algebra went from rhetorical, to syncopated, to symbolic. Stevin introduced “Decimal” into the English language, proposing that any fraction can be written using just integers. Napier enhanced Stevin’s idea by inventing the decimal point during his invention of logarithms. Along with his contributions to mathematics, Napier was a theologian and inventor. He invented engines of warfare and the hydraulic screw. Other big names discussed in this section were Kepler and Brahe. Kepler made great advancements to calculus–evaluating curved areas and volumes using the sum of an infinite number of infinitesimal elements. He believed that the study of mathematics is a way to understand the mind of God. Kepler worked with expert astronomer Tycho Brahe to make astronomical discoveries which laid much of the groundwork for Isaac Newton's study of gravitational theory.
