scholarly journals Newtonian Optics and the Historiography of Light in the 18th Century: A critical Analysis of Joseph Priestley’s The History of Optics

2018 ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breno Moura
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Optical Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Joseph Priestley ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
History Of Optics ◽  
The Prestige

In 1772, Joseph Priestley published The History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light and Colours, also known as The History of Optics. The book intended to present all the achievements in the matter of light and colors, from the Ancient times to the 18th century. This paper presents a study of the content of The History of Optics, in order to analyze how it sold Newtonian optics in the historiography of light. It will comprise discussions on Priestley’s views on History, his involvement with optical studies, his perceptions on Newtonian optics and the Biographical Chart included in the book. This analysis can add new elements for the current Historiography on Priestley, clarifying other aspects that demonstrate his commitment to a Newtonian view of the History of Optics, as well as an example of the prestige that Newton’s Natural Philosophy had throughout the 18th century. 

scholarly journals Newtonian Optics and the Historiography of Light in the 18th Century

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breno Moura
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Optical Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Joseph Priestley ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
History Of Optics ◽  
The Prestige

In 1772, Joseph Priestley published The History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light and Colours, also known as The History of Optics. The book intended to present all the achievements in the matter of light and colors, from the Ancient times to the 18th century. This paper presents a study of the content of The History of Optics, in order to analyze how it sold Newtonian optics in the historiography of light. It will comprise discussions on Priestley’s views on History, his involvement with optical studies, his perceptions on Newtonian optics and the Biographical Chart included in the book. This analysis can add new elements for the current Historiography on Priestley, clarifying other aspects that demonstrate his commitment to a Newtonian view of the History of Optics, as well as an example of the prestige that Newton’s Natural Philosophy had throughout the 18th century. 

scholarly journals Extracts on the history of the Golden Horde from the Shajar-yi turk va mugūl

2021 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Z. Tulibayeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
History Of ◽  
Similarities And Differences

The article analyzes information on the history of the Golden Horde, contained in the seventh article of historical work of Abū al-Gāzī khan Chīngīzī Khvārazmī the Shajara-yi turk va mugūl, which is one of the most significant monuments of Turkic written heritage. The purpose of the study is the introduction into scientific circulation of a new translation of valuable material on the history of the Chingizids. The work Shajara-yi turk va mugūl is well known to scientists as the text of the manuscript. Its translations have been being published numerously in European, Asian countries, and in Russia since the second quarter of the 18th century. Translations by J. J. P. Desmaisons and G. S. Sablukov into French and Russian published in 1874 and 1906 are still recognized by scientists to a certain extent acceptable for critical use. However, it should be emphasized that in the text of these two publications, there are some errors and semantic distortions of the source’s text. In this regard, the article provides a commented translation of the seventh chapter of Abū al-Gāzī khan’s work under the title “Mention of the reign of Jochi Khan, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, and his descendants in Desht-i Kipchāk”. The comparative-critical analysis of the information of the Shajara-yi turk va mugūl with the data of the works of Rashīd ad-Dīn, Mu’īn al-Dīn Natanzī, Mirza Ulūgbek, Fasih Ahmad al-Khawāfī made it possible to reveal the similarities and differences in the account of the historical events described by the authors. Abū alGāzī khan, using extant sources, supplemented the history of the rulers of the Golden Horde with individual facts; the Khiva work contains information missing from other authors.

scholarly journals SCIENCE, SOCIETY AND CIVILIZATION IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-10
Author(s):  
Raffaele Pisano
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Science Society ◽  
Modern Engineering ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The One ◽  
École Polytechnique ◽  
The 19Th Century

What about science, society and education in the history? In the 19th century Europe the figure of the scientific engineer is emerging. In Paris the Grandes Écoles were founded, where the most distinguished mathematicians of the time taught to students and drew up treaties. and Joseph–Louis Lagrange (1736–1813) and Gaspard Monge (1746–1818) were among the first professors of mathematics at École Polytechnique (1794), a military school for the training of engineers. In 1794 the École Normal of Paris was also born, in 1808, the École normale supérieure Paris was founded, a school that had as its goal the training of teachers of both science and humanities. On this model, with a Napoleonic decree of 1813, it was established the first foundation of the Scuola Normale in Pisa. The attention of the French mathematicians toward applications was therefore, at least in part, due to the need of educational institutions to train technicians for the new state. Such an attitude is not found in Germany, the country that in the nineteenth century was with France at the forefront of European mathematics. On the one hand, great importance was attributed to purely theoretical disciplines, such as number theory and abstract algebra, on the other hand the natural philosophy aim to frame in the same theory at all the physical disciplines. In Germany a great engineering school eventually developed which become dominant in Europe. But interaction between scientists and engineers has existed since ancient times: e.g., for the study of prototypes and machines for the society. Questions might be: when, why and how the tension between mathematics, physics, astronomy, gave rise to a new scientific discipline, the modern engineering? What is the conceptual bridge between sciences researches and the organization of technological researches in the development of the industry?

scholarly journals What Is the History of Science the History of? Early Modern Roots of the Ideology of Modern Science

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-62
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century

The title of the article prompts at least two questions: (1) how to determine that any particular research topic or problem belongs to the history of science and (2) the effect of the history of science and other research in problematizing the very idea that science is a natural category. The category of “science” itself has become so historicized and slippery that it calls into question the integrity of what historians of science are engaged in. The thesis of the article is that the integrity of the history of science as a distinct field of scholarship may lie in understanding the antecedents to modern science as well as its ongoing development. The evident mismatch between the common representations of “science” and the miscellany of materials typically studied by a historian of science comes from a systematic ambiguity that may itself be traced back to early modern Europe. In that cultural setting, natural philosophy was held (most famously by Francis Bacon) to involve both contemplative and practical knowledge. The resulting tension and ambiguity are typified in the 18th century by Buffon’s views. The new enterprise that was called science in the 19th century arrived at an unstable ideology of natural knowledge that was heavily indebted to those early modern developments. The two complementary and competing elements in the ideology of modern science may be described as “natural philosophy” (a discourse of contemplative knowledge) and “instrumentality” (a discourse of practical or useful knowledge). The history of science in large part deals with the interrelations — always shifting and often repudiating each other — between those two poles.

Joseph Priestley, oxygen, and the Enlightenment

2014 ◽  
Vol 306 (2) ◽  
pp. L111-L119 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. West
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Respiratory Physiology ◽  
Experimental Investigations ◽  
Benjamin Franklin ◽  
True Nature ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was the first person to report the discovery of oxygen and describe some of its extraordinary properties. As such he merits a special place in the history of respiratory physiology. In addition his descriptions in elegant 18th-century English were particularly arresting, and rereading them never fails to give a special pleasure. The gas was actually first prepared by Scheele (1742–1786) but his report was delayed. Lavoisier (1743–1794) repeated Priestley's initial experiment and went on to describe the true nature of oxygen that had eluded Priestley, who never abandoned the erroneous phlogiston theory. In addition to oxygen, Priestley isolated and characterized seven other gases. However, most of his writings were in theology because he was a conscientious clergyman all his life. Priestley was a product of the Enlightenment and argued that all beliefs should be able to stand the scientific scrutiny of experimental investigations. As a result his extreme liberal views were severely criticized by the established Church of England. In addition he was a supporter of both the French and American Revolutions. Ultimately his political and religious attitudes provoked a riot during which his home and his scientific equipment were destroyed. He therefore emigrated to America in 1794 where his friends included Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. He settled in Northumberland, Pennsylvania although his scientific work never recovered from his forced departure. But the descriptions of his experiments with oxygen will always remain a high point in the history of respiratory physiology.

Imperialism and Racial Geography in James Henry Breasted’s Ancient Times, a History of the Early World

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 12-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay J. Ambridge
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Racial Boundaries ◽  
Cultural Variables ◽  
Oriental Institute ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Contextualization ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
The University

Abstract James Henry Breasted (1865–1935), founder of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, was a prolific writer of popularizing books on the ancient Near East. This article presents a critical analysis and historical contextualization of one of his most widely read books: Ancient Times, a History of the Early World. Published as a high school textbook in 1916 and revised in 1935, it serves as a reference point from which to investigate the effects of political and cultural variables on ancient historiography. Changes between the first and second editions of the book indicate that Breasted increasingly relied on scientific vocabulary to map the geo-racial boundaries of early civilization. Combining this with a model of enlightened exploitation, Breasted constructed a vision of the ancient past that was ultimately a commentary on the socio-political conditions of his own time.

scholarly journals Allées in Landscape Architecture and Garden Art—Types, Preservation, and Renewal of the Living Heritage of Baroque Allées in Hungary

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 283
Author(s):  
Kinga Szilágyi ◽  
Chaima Lahmer ◽  
Krisztina Szabó
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Natural Landscape ◽  
Space Forms ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
European Heritage ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Regular Line

Examining the history of garden art since ancient times, we find many examples of linear tree layouts supporting orientation or being used for the purpose of composition. Allées gained special significance during the Baroque as dynamic and grandiose space-forming garden design elements. They mostly consist of trees of taxonomically similar species planted along a regular line equidistant from each other in single or multiple rows. The two-dimensional compositional elements of the layout form three-dimensional longitudinal space forms. During their evolution, both their proportions and openness constantly change. Analyses of the compositional role and functions of allées of exemplary Hungarian Baroque garden complexes in the 18th century provided a basis for setting up a novel typology. Five compositional types have been defined as the primary result of archival research. The significance of the still-subsisting historic Hungarian allées calls for unique protection similar to European heritage protection. Taking a summary of significant, surviving examples of Hungarian Baroque allées into account, methods for allée renewal are defined along with the core question of whether allées are natural landscape elements or strict architectural compositions where authenticity may be an important criterion. The methodological research is partially based on three plans for the renewal of Baroque allées in Hungary that have been worked out by the Author as the chief landscape architect of the projects.

scholarly journals I Problems; Blindness and Autobiography

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. VC17-VC35
Author(s):  
Dennis Schep
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
Autobiographical Writing ◽  
Autobiographical Texts ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
French Theory ◽  
Ecce Homo ◽  
History Of Optics

The literary genre of autobiography dates back to the 18th century, when philosophy became a type of anthropology, archives and case histories strengthened the grasp of discourse over life, and modern authorship and hermeneutics led to new modes of reading and writing. Nietzsche and so-called French theory have put significant strain on this constellation in their shared critique of language, subjectivity and authorship – a critique that makes traditional autobiography all but impossible. Needless to say, this has stopped neither Nietzsche nor a number of postmodern theorists from writing their own autobiographical texts. Interestingly, blindness is a recurring figure in many of these texts; and in this article, I argue that this figure allows us to trace the generic upheaval generated by the problematization of the discursive constellation that fostered modern autobiographical writing. By means of a brief introduction into the history of optics and a close reading of Nietzsche's Ecce Homo and Cixous' 'Savoir,' I show that the malfunctioning eye is one of the figures employed to deinstitutionalize both the philosophical and the autobiographical tradition, allowing us to grasp what became of autobiography after philosophy pronounced the death of man, the subject, and the author.This article was submitted to the European Journal of Life Writing in May 2014 and published on 16 March 2015.

Book Review - Science, medicine and dissent: Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) (papers celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Priestley together with a catalogue of an exhibition held at the Royal Society and the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine)

1989 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-276
Keyword(s):  
History Of Medicine ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Phlogiston Theory ◽  
250Th Anniversary ◽  
History Of ◽  
Joseph Priestley ◽  
Book Deal

Science, medicine and dissent: Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) (papers celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Priestley together with a catalogue of an exhibition held at the Royal Society and the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine) , edited by R. G. W. Anderson & C. Lawrence (pp. ix + 105). Published by Wellcome Trust and Science Museum, London, 1987, £9.95. The contents of this book are described accurately by a title of 18th- century amplitude. Priestley is remembered by chemists as the man who did most to establish the technique of pneumatic chemistry, for his discovery of ‘dephlogisticated air’ or oxygen, and for his refusal to abandon the phlogiston theory when confronted with Lavoisier’s revolution. He is occasionally remembered by physicists for his interest in electricity and optics. He was, however, a man of many other parts and the essays in this book deal, almost entirely, with these other aspects of his thought. Perhaps their scope is best illustrated by brief quotations from each of them since these are sometimes more revealing, in both substance and style, than the titles. They are as follows: C. Lawrence, ‘In this paper I shall outline Priestley’s biography and point to some areas in it where medicine was of importance.’ J. H. Brooke, ‘The paper had its origin in the realisation that I had been studying Whewell and Priestley, with different objects in view, and largely disregarding the stereotypes to which they have often been assimilated. It occurred to me that, despite the obvious problem of chronology, a comparison between their respective apologias for science might be instructive,...’.

The Scientific Status of Oriental Studies and the Fate of Russian Sinology

2021 ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Artem Kobzev
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Russian Translation ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Philosophy And Religion ◽  
Scientific Status ◽  
Modern System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Oriental Studies

The objective duality of the world, man and mankind should correspond to the pairing of Oriental studies and Western studies, however, science and pedagogy know only the first, or orientalistics. This monopoly was the result of the formation of the modern system of sciences in the field of the global domination of the West, representing the East as its opposite — the Non-West and / or interpreting interaction with it in value-asymmetric categories of culture and barbarism. The publication in 2006 of the Russian translation of E. Said's famous anti-Eastern book “Orientalism” and the scientific and educational reform of 2010-2013, provoked a discussion of Russian orientalists in the sense of the concepts of the East and the scientific status of Oriental studies as a complex and supra-branch discipline, which is either a syncretic underscience, or a synthetic superscience. Similar problems have been discussed in Russian Sinology since the 19th, since of all the highly developed cultures of the East, Chinese is the most syncretic, and the science about it is the most synthetic. In traditional China, there were no divisions customary for the West into philosophy and religion / theologians, philosophy and science, humanitarian and natural disciplines, fine and applied arts, etc. Russian Sinology, created at the beginning of the 18th century, corresponded to this specificity, simultaneously with “cutting a window to Europe” to address similar government requests. In the USSR, it was divided into classical Sinology, which was concentrated in Leningrad, with an emphasis on philology and wen-yan, and Soviet Sinology, which was concentrated in Moscow, with an emphasis on history, social studies, and bai-hua. As a result, it was possible to find the most complete reflection in accordance with the standards of classical sinology of the 6-volume encyclopedia “Spiritual Culture of China” (2006-2010). The results of this convergence were also recorded by the 10-volume “History of China from Ancient Times to the Beginning of the 21st Century”, which largely inherited Soviet Sinology (2013-2017). After analyzing these historical phenomena, the article describes the main achievements and problems of Russian Sinology over the past decade and the challenges it faces in the light of the modern rethinking of the scientific status of all oriental studies.

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