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AKPhil: Arbeitskreis Philosophie der Physik

AKPhil 8: History and Philosophy of Physics 1

AKPhil 8.2: Talk

Friday, March 9, 2007, 09:30–10:00, KIP SR 3.401

On the post-Newtonian period in the development of mechanics — •Dieter Suisky — Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstr. 15, 12489 Berlin

Leonhard Euler is famous as the leading mathematician of the 18th century whereas Emilie du Châtelet is known for the translation of Newton’s Principia into French. Châtelet’s Institutions de physique had been published in 1740, after Eulers Mechanica (1736) but before d’Alembert’s Traité (1743). A German translation, entitled Naturlehre, was rapidly published in 1743 while Euler’s comprehensive treatise Anleitung zur Naturlehre had been issued only posthumously in 1862.

In this contribution it will be demonstrated that the followers of Newton and Leibniz did merge and modify basic principles of their predecessors by introducing new principles, exemplified for Euler’s procedure to invent physical notions being completely commensurable with the Leibnizian representation of the calculus.

Châtelet based the Institutions on Descartes’s concept of extension, Newton’s Principia and, Leibniz’s principles of sufficient reason and conservation of living forces. Projected onto Euler’s program, Châtelet’s progress is inherently hampered by the restricted use of the language of calculus whereas the translation suffers losses from the lack of an adequate German physical terminology. Euler elaborated thoroughly both components in the Anleitung such that one can make use of Euler’s consistently formulated conceptual frame even for the analysis of contemporary problems.