The Jesuit honoré fabri and the theory of projectiles
- Autores: Michael Lazar
- Localización: The Circulation of Science and Technology: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science. Barcelona, 18-20 November 2010 / coord. por Antoni M. Roca Rosell, 2012, ISBN 978-84-9965-108-8, págs. 338-343
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
The Jesuit Honoré Fabri (1608-1688) was a senior representative of Jesuit scientists during the period between Galileo’s death (1642) and Newton’s Principia mathematica (1687). As I have shown in a paper published in 2008, Fabri managed to integrate into his impetus-based physics (and general Aristotelian framework) the principle of Linear Conservation of Motion, generally (and inaccurately) referred to as “inertia”. Furthermore, Fabri also accepted Galileo’s law of falling bodies, as long as perceptible times and spaces are concerned; he indeed formulated a different rule for “infinitesimal” moments, but he took pains to (successfully) show that for measurable spatial or temporal units his own law converged to Galileo’s rule, i.e. the “odd numbers law”.
However, while thus accepting two key concepts of classical (or Pre-Classical) physics, Fabri flatly rejected Galileo’s analysis of projectiles and dismissed the Pisan parabola as the solution for the projectile’s trajectory;
instead, Fabri employed an Aristotelian-flavoured principle –that nothing exists “in vain” (frustra)– and developed a different curve, which albeit being totally erroneous was closer to the trajectory actually observed than Galileo’s parabola. My lecture will thus explore this unique case of scientific-theory dissemination, in which a member of the Society of Jesus reveals himself as keen on assimilating important “New Science” insights, but in his own terms: preserving an Aristotelian (or Neo-Aristotelian) spirit that demands theory to stay as close to observed facts, and cannot accept a mathematical abstraction which does not correspond to observed projectiles (i.e. the parabola, which as we know today is different from observed projectiles because of air resistance).
