Abstract
Thanks to the encouragement of Hans Wussing and the commercial courage of the houses of Birkhäuser (Basel) and the Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften (Berlin), I was able to publish in 1990 a large work of 1600 pages entitled Convolutions in French mathematics, 1800–1840 [G.-G. 1990a]. It treats of a golden but little-studied epoch in the history of science, when France was by far the leading mathematical country in the world and an extraordinary galaxy of major figures converted ‘calculus to mathematical analysis’ and ‘mechanics to mathematical physics’, to quote from the sub-title of my book. Major changes were wrought in the period that I studied, and the temptation to begin the title of my work ‘French revolutions in ...’ was very great. Yet it had to be resisted; although priority rows and plagiarism charges occurred (following a distinguished Parisian tradition!), no truly revolutionary events happened, involving (for example) some sort of illegal activity or procedure.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
[Cohen 1985]_Cohen, I. B.: Revolution in science. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1985.
Grattan-Guinness, I.: What do theories talk about? A critique of Popperian fallibilism, with especial reference to ontology. Fundamenta scientiae 7 (1986), 177–221.
Grattan-Guinness, I.: How it means: mathematical theories in physical theories. With examples from French mathematical physics in the early 19th century. Rendiconti dell’ Accademia del XL(5) 9, pt. 2 (1985), 89–119.
Grattan-Guinness, I.: Convolutions in French mathematics, 1800–1840. From the calculus and mechanics to mathematical analysis and mathematical physics. 3 vols. Basel, Birkhäuser; Berlin, Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1990.
Grattan-Guinness, I.: Does History of Science treat of the history of science? The case of mathematics. History of science 28 (1990), 147–173.
Grattan-Guinness, I.: From virtual velocities to economic action: the very slow arrivals of linear programming and locational equilibrium, in: P. Mirowski (ed.), Markets read in tooth and gear: nature, economy and science, to appear.
Grattan-Guinness, I.: Structure-similarity as a cornerstone of the philosophy of mathematics, in: J. Echeverria, T. Mormann and A. Ibarra (eds.), Structures in mathematical theories. Proceedings of the Conference at San Sebastian, September 1990, Berlin and New York, de Gruyter, to appear.
Grattan-Guinness, I.: The ingénieur savant, 1800–1830: a neglected figure in the history of French mathematics and science. Science in context, to appear.
Grattan-Guinness, I. in collaboration with Ravetz, J. R.: Joseph Fourier 1768–1830. A survey of his life and work, based on a critical edition of his monograph on the propagation of heat, presented to the Institut de France in 1807. Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press, 1972.
Hankins, T. L.: In defence of biography: the use of biography in the history of science. History of science 17 (1980), 1–16.
Ingrao, B. and Israel, G.: The invisible hand. Economic equilibrium in the history of science. Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press, 1990.
Krüger, L. and others (eds.): The probabilistic revolution, 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press, 1988.
Kuhn, T. S.: The structure of scientific revolutions, 2nd ed. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1970.
Mirowski, P.: More heat than light. Economics as social physics: physics as nature’s economics. Cambridge, University Press, 1989.
Moore, J. R.: The post-Darwinian controversies. Cambridge, University Press, 1979.
Shea, W. R. (ed.): Revolutions in science. Canton, Mass. (Science History Publications), 1989.
Wussing, H.: Die Genesis des abstrakten Gruppenbegriffes. Berlin, Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1969. (English translation: The genesis of the abstract group concept. Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press, 1984.)
Wussing, H.: Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte naturwissenschaftlicher Begriffe. NTM, 7, no. 2 (1970), 15–29.
Wussing, H.: Nicolaus Kopernicus. Leipzig, Urania, 1973.
Wussing, H.: C. F. Gauss. 1st ed. Leipzig, Teubner, 1974.
Wussing, H.: Zur Diskussion. Versuch zur Klassifikation des historischen Wechselverhältnisses zwischen Naturwissenschaften und materieller Produktion. NTM, 12, no. 1 (1975), 98–104.
Wussing, H.: Historiographie der Mathematik: Ziele, Methoden, Aufgaben. Mitteilungen der Mathematischen GeseUschaft der DDR, nos. 3–4 (1976), 120–132.
Wussing, H.: Isaac Newton. 1st ed. Leipzig, Teubner, 1977.
Wussing, H. (ed.): Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Mathematik. Berlin, Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1979.
Wussing, H.: Adam Ries. Leipzig, Teubner, 1989.
Wussing, H. and Arnold, W. (eds.): Biographien bedeutender Mathematiker. 1st ed. Berlin, Volk und Wissen, 1975.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Basel AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grattan-Guinness, I. (1992). Scientific Revolutions as Convolutions? A Sceptical Enquiry. In: Demidov, S.S., Rowe, D., Folkerts, M., Scriba, C.J. (eds) Amphora. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8599-7_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8599-7_14
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel
Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-9696-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-8599-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive