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Friday, August 31, 2007

Tangled Bank #87

 

The latest version of the Tangled Bank has been posted on Balancing Life [Tangled Bank #87].

I really like the article on "Standing on the shoulders of giants." It explains what Newton really meant when he wrote that to Hooke. Look it up.

1 comment :

Torbjörn Larsson said...

No doubt Newton had serious problems in some areas, especially in later age. His conflicts with Hooke and Leibniz are epic.

However, while I'm no study of history and haven't read John Gribbin's book, Sunil's account of Newton as not a good experimental scientist ("Hooke was a first rate experimental scientist" ... "Newton was quite the opposite") is probably not correct. He invented and build Newtonian reflecting telescopes, ground his own mirrors, checked their quality with the phenomena of Newton's rings, used prisms to study light, dabbled in alchemy, et cetera.

Also, there are always two parts in a feud. I have gotten the impression elsewhere that Hooke was quite the contrarian in this conflict. But maybe Gribbin is better informed.