Light, Heat and Sound in Robert Grosseteste's Physics
Publisher: Lulu Press, Inc.
Published: 2016
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9781326871536
First sentence: Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175 – 9 October 1253) was an English
philosopher and theologian who became Bishop of Lincoln from
1235 to 1253. For the scientific treatises that he wrote, a wellknown historian of science, Alistair Cameron Crombie, defined
Grosseteste "the real founder of the tradition of scientific thought in medieval Oxford, and in some ways, of the modern English intellectual tradition". For his work for the church, upon his death Grosseteste was revered as a saint in England, but attempts to have his canonization failed.
Description: Robert Grosseteste (c.1175 – 1253) was one of the most prominent thinkers of the Thirteenth Century. Philosopher and scientist, he was Bishop of Lincoln from 1235 to 1253. He was heavily influenced by Augustine, whose thought permeates his writings; from him, Robert drew his Neoplatonic outlook. However, he also made extensive use of the thought of Aristotle, Avicenna and Averroes. As explained in one of his treatise, God is the Eternal Light. God
first created ‘forma prima’ and ‘materia prima’. Forma prima is the Lux. Coming from a point-like entity, the light, due to its very nature, diffused itself becoming the dimensional form of the matter. Dragged by the light, the matter expanded into the space to create the sphere of the finite universe. From its spherical boundary, the Lux created the Lumen, the luminosity, which moved inwards, towards the center of the universe where there is the Earth. In a sequence from the outer sphere to the inner one, each of the nine celestial spheres of heavens is created. The innermost is the sphere of the moon, which produces through its own Lumen, the four spheres consisting of fire, air, water and earth. And here, in the part of the world where the four elements of the ancient physics dominate, we have the phenomena on which Grosseteste exercised his science. His medieval physics is the science of Nature, of which we will discuss in this book. This science is quite different from the Galilean physics. However, in the scientific treatises written by Grosseteste, we find some features preparing the born of the new physics that produced the Galilean revolution and the Newtonian mechanics. This is the reason why Robert Grosseteste, English statesman, philosopher and scientist, is defined by Alistair Cameron Crombie as the real founder of the
tradition of the scientific thought in Oxford. In this book Sparavigna proposes a discussion of this Grosseteste’s physics, in particular that which in described in his treatises on light, heat and sound.
Table of contents: label: Contents; label: 1. Grosseteste. Page 5; label: 2. Reflection, Refraction and Optical Instruments. Page 8; label: 3. De Iride. Page 9; label: 4. Discussion of De Iride. Page 16; label: 5. Grosseteste’s Colours. Page 20; label: 6. De Colore. Page 22; label: 7. Discussion of De Colore. Page 23; label: 8. The Propagation of Light. Page 30; title: 9. The Power of Light. Page 31 !; label: 10. De Lineis, Angulis et Figuris, seu Fractionibus et Reflexionibus Radiorum. Page 32; label: 11. Discussion of De Lineis. Page 39; label: 12. The Light and Grosseteste’s Metaphysics. Page 43; label: 13. Grosseteste and the Augustinian Thought. Page 48; label: 14. A Remarkable Man of Science. Page 50; label: 15. De Luce. Page 52; label: 16. A Note on De Luce 60; label: 17. Lux and Lumen from Grosseteste to Dante Alighieri. Page 61; label: 18. The Heat of the Sun. Page 71; label: 19. De Calore Solis. Page 73; label: 20. Discussion of De Calore Solis. Page 79; label: 21. The Impetus of Elements. Page 80; label: 22. De Impressionibus Elementorum. Page 82; label: 23. The Four Elements. Page 85; label: 24. Grosseteste and the Sound. Page 88; label: 25. De Generatione Sonorum. Page 89; label: 26. Sound, Motion and Phonetics. Page 93; label: 27. Conclusion. Page 97; label: 28. Appendix – Grosseteste’s Political Network. Page 98; label: 29. Books and Articles on Grosseteste’s works. Page 101