![]() On August 10, 1632, five men in flowing black robes came together in a somber Roman palazzo on the left bank of the Tiber River. At a time when the struggle over Copernicus’ theory raged most fiercely and Galileo’s fate hung in the balance, didn’t the Revisors General have greater concerns than whether a line is composed of separate points? ![]() In a blog that reads like a thriller, historian of mathematics Amir Alexander (UCLA) delves into the question what, in the eyes of the Jesuits, was wrong with the notion that continuous magnitudes are made of tiny atoms. But sometimes it takes centuries.On August 10, 1632, the Revisors General of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuit Order, forcefully condemned the doctrine that the continuum is composed of infinitely small atoms and forbade it from being pursued, taught, or even entertained. Inevitably, it seems, churches eventually do catch up with science. Calculus, for 200 years, was not part of the curriculum. The Church dictated what could be taught in schools under Rome’s influence. The author makes a strong case that religious opposition caused Italy to fall far behind northern Europe in math and science, dropping from first-place to something rather dismal, a condition from which Italy never recovered scientifically. Until reading Infinitesimal, I was completely unaware of this particular Church vs Science battle. Nevertheless, it is a fine historical documentation with convincing research and analysis. Worse, parts of the book are simply dry, making for tough chewing. Infinitesimal needed a good edit before hitting typeset. For example, some players were introduced two or three times, as if each occasion was their first appearance in the book. I was paying attention and didn’t need to be reminded of what I had just read. Unfortunately, I found Amir Alexander‘s telling of the story a bit tedious with much material revisited too frequently. Infinitesimal is an interesting book because of the era described and because of the tenuous situation mathematicians faced three or four hundred years ago. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus told the pontiff it would be “The pope’s own army,” an enforcer of papal decrees. Pope Paul III – grantor of the Jesuits’ charter, 1540. God is infinite oxcart wheels, beer steins, and cumulative interest are not. A number of clever priests saw the value of calculus (as did scientists such as Galileo) but others (especially the Jesuits) saw heresy in calculus. Books were banned and the idea of infinities was rooted out. It was contrary to spiritually derived knowledge – and contrary to the prevailing interpretation of Aristotle’s science. That’s the heart of calculus and modern science requires this approach.īut the thought of anything being infinitely small and infinitely numerous was anathema to the bosses at the Vatican in the year 1600. When it became apparent that accuracy improved as slices became thinner and more numerous, mathematicians began to realize that exact answers might be found by summing up an infinite number of infinitely small pieces. The volume of an irregular pyramid, the interest owed on a loan, and the circumference of a circle were early problems. The book, Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World, recounts (in considerable detail) the struggle between the Church and a group of mathematicians who found it useful to divide time, length, area, and volume into tiny pieces, then sum up all the pieces to solve various math problems. People who advocated calculusas a tool to investigate science could find themselves in considerable trouble with authority types. For about two hundred years, it was math that was sinful. Nor the discovery of germs, the roundness of our planet, the existence of sub-atomic particles, nor the age of the universe – nor any of the many other discoveries that have left preachers and priests irritated and vengeful (until they eventually agreed with the science). Nor the Earth’s position in the solar system. This time, I’m not talking about evolution. ![]() Careers were ruined people were imprisoned for promoting this idea that ran counter to prevailing religious notions. I just finished Infinitesimal –a book that describes how a peculiar new idea was undermined by religion.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |