Talk:Simon Stevin

I contacted the author of the Dutch Simon Stevin homepage mentioned in the links about scans of a better quality. He replied that he already had made such scans, but that they were lost in a hard disk crash. Since then, he has felt discouraged by that incident to make the scans again. The disappointment he felt has disappeared by know, but he is so busy at work that he won't have the time for at least half a year.

Also, I have some questions for this article that others may be able to answer. They may have relevance to other biographies as well.

Simon Stevin seems to have been a rather pragmatical man. It seems that science to him was not there to increase the body of human knowledge, but rather to further practical needs. Since none of the sources I used for this article remark on this, I take it this was common for scientists of that age. Is this so? Is there perhaps a name for that phenomenon or for the scientist/inventor/engineers of those days? Is the qualification mathematician I give him at the beginning of the article even correct, or is it just the way we view him nowadays, perhaps holding scientists in higher regard than 'mere' engineers and inventors?

Also, I noticed that he had (?) some of his works translated. This raised a couple of questions with me. How did scientific writing propagate in those days? Nowadays you have journals that are published world wide, but how did it work in those days? What was the scientific lingua franca? Stevin seems to have believed that Dutch could fulfill that rôle: in how far was this realization of his based on the Dutch feeling to be on top of the world in the Dutch golden age?

Hm, I remember having had more questions, but I forgot, and I'd already be glad if somebody could provide some insight into these issues.--User:Branko

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In those days, Latin was the language of science, and communication worked through book publication, by travelling, and by correspondence.

Stevin probably thought that Latin was an obstacle to people who were not 'learned'. In my judgment he was partly misguided: Mathematics may be a difficult subject, but you do not make it any easier by calling mathematics 'Wiskunde'.

S.

The word Dutch means 'of the people', and he certainly seems to have tried and make scientific language accessible to the people, just as his scientific research was there for the benefit of the craftspeople (see the part on De Thiende).

I personally do believe that terms as 'optellen' (lit. count including) and 'delen' (lit. part, share) are better, because they specifically refer to a type of mathematics every layperson was and is used to, whereas the Latin terms 'add' and 'divide' definitely were not.

Also there may have been a psychological aspect, as in when something sounds like your language, it seems easier to comprehend. I don't know if it is really easier then (I can see it working the other way around), but it could boost confidence: 'Hey, one of us was able to comprehend!'

Have you got any references (perhaps WP articles) about how scientific communication worked in those days? Your description is a bit short for me to form a mental image of how it worked. Thanks,--User:Branko

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Marin Mersenne (1588-1648), a priest of the Order of Minims, now best known for the "Mersenne primes", functioned as a kind of "exchange" for scientific news: he maintained an extensive international correspondence (in Latin!) and passed news on to such correspondents who he thought might be interested.

Ole (Olaus) Worm (?1585-?1651), a Danish physician, runologist, and museum pioneer, also had a wide correspondence. It has recently been published - in my opinion absurdly - only in Danish translation.

Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680), German-born Jesuit and polyhistor residing in Rome, published several big folio volumes om subjects as diverse as music theory, geology, and egyptology. His books were widely read, but the contents are uncritical.

In haste, S.

No problem, I can use these as a spring board for further research. Thanks!--User:Branko

Note to self: see Leonardo da Vinci for more on scientific dissemination.--user:Branko

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he left a widow with two children - he was 70 years old when he died! How old were these children????? Also, do we need ALL of those links? -- Zoe

1. I have been doing some searching, but other than that he married at 68 so far I have found little. I'll look some further to see what I can dig up, though I cannot say the man's family life intrigues me the most.

2. There are 'only' four links, but the link texts are surely too much. I listed those links as starting points for further online exploration, so that the article can be made more complete.

3. What is so NPOV about the bit about religion that you had to remove it whole? The religion of a person during the Reformation, where people actually got killed for being catholic or protestant, was important, as was lying about it to save one's skin. In this case, it could have made the difference between Stevin being a Dutch mathematician (a nationality that had only come into existance recently) or a Spanish one, to say the least.--user:Branko

The religion paragraph was removed, because it claims that only Protetants can be free-thinkers. -- Zoe