Rev. translation of Historisk Indledning til den Klassiske Fysik.
Bibliography: p. 321-335.
Science before the Greeks -- The new concept of nature -- Plato and Greek mathematics -- Aristotle and the knowledge of nature -- Practical astronomy -- Early Greek cosmology -- Mathematical astronomy -- The foundations of statics -- Dynamics in antiquity -- The conception of light and sound -- The structure of material substances -- Properties of matter and chemical change -- The transmission of Greek science -- Experimental physics in the Middle Ages -- The development of statics -- The establishment of kinematics -- Force and motion in the Middle Ages -- Mediaeval astronomy -- The change called Renaissance -- The reform of astronomy.