a study from a Machian point of view of the discovery and the structure of dynamical theories /
Julian B. Barbour.
New York :
Oxford University Press,
2001.
1 online resource (xxiv, 746 pages) :
illustrations
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction to Volumes 1 and 2; 1 Preliminaries; 2 Aristotle: first airing of the absolute/relative problem; 3 Hellenistic astronomy: the foundations are laid; 4 The Middle Ages: first stirrings of the scientific revolution; 5 Copernicus: the flimsy arch; 6 Kepler: the dominion of the sun; 7 Galileo: the geometrization of motion; 8 Descartes and the new world; 9 Huygens: relativity and centrifugal force; 10 Newton I: the discovery of dynamics; 11 Newton II: absolute or relative motion?; 12 Post-Newtonian conceptual clarification of Newtonian dynamics.
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"Originally published as Absolute or relative motion? volume 1, The discovery of dynamics, Cambridge University Press, 1989."
"This study tells an absorbing story. It spans over 2000 years, from the development of ancient astronomy through to Newton's discovery of universal gravitation and the laws of motion.
It has no rival, either in depth of treatment or vitality of presentation. The revolutionary developments that led to the modern view of the world are examined from a deep philosophical perspective. The book was originally published in 1989 as Abs.