Abstract
The concept of energy, the premier concept of physics and indeed of all science, is here investigated from the standpoint of its early historical origin and the philosophical implications thereof. The fundamental assumption is made that the root of the concept is the notion of invariance or constancy in the midst of change. Salient points in the development of this idea are presented from ancient times up to the publication of Lagrange'sMécanique Analytique (1788).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ernst Mach,History and Root of the Principle of the Conservation of Energy (Transl. by P. E. P. Jourdain) (Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago, 1911), p. 39.
M. R. Cohen and I. E. Drabkin, ASource Book of Greek Science (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1948). See particularly the reference on p. 230 to the work of Hero of Alexandria,Mechanics II, 21–26.
Richard McKeon,The Basic Works of Aristotle (Random House, New York, 1941), p. 353.
Marshall Clagett,The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1959), p. 477.
P. Duhem,Les Origines de la Statique (Paris, 1905), Vol. 1, p. 177.
Erwin N. Hiebert,Historical Roots of the Principle of Conservation of Energy (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1962).
E. A. Moody and M. Clagett,The Medieval Science of Weights (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1952).
Simon Stevin,De Beghinselen der Weeghconst (Leiden, 1586).Hypomnomata Mathematica (Leiden, 1608). The latter is a Latin translation of Stevin's writings on mechanics.
Edward MacCurdy,The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (Garden City Publishing Company, New York, 1941). See p. 802 for reference to impossibility of perpetual motion.
Girolamo Cardano,De Subtilitate (Milan, 1551).
Galileo Galilei,On Mechanics (ca. 1590) (Transl. by Stillman Drake) (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1960). See in particular pages 138ff on the principle of virtual velocities.
Galileo Galilei,Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences (Transl. by Henry Crew and Alfonso De Salvio) (Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Illinois, 1939). See p. 170.
René Dugas,A History of Mechanics (Transl. by J. R. Maddox) (Editions du Griffon, Neuchâtel, Switzerland and Central Book Company, New York, 1953). See p. 169.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, inActa Eruditorum (Leipzig) (1686).
D'Alembert,Traité de Dynamique (Paris, 1743). The relevant reference to thevis viva controversy will be found on p. XXIII of “Discours préliminaire” in theTraité (2nd Ed., Paris, 1758).
L. L. Laudan, The vis viva controversy in a post mortem,Isis 59, 131 (1968).
Christian Huygens,Horologium Oscillatorium (Paris, 1673).
Joseph L. Lagrange,Mécanique Analytique (Paris, 1788).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lindsay, R.B. The concept of energy and its early historical development. Found Phys 1, 383–393 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708586
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708586