The Unification of Physics and Astronomy

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

"Unification" has been a paramount goal of science from its very beginnings. Thales proclaimed "All is water." Contemporary science continues this pursuit of unification. Maxwell, in the 19th century, unified the forces of electricity and magnetism and showed that light is but an electro-magnetic phenomenon. Einstein's final efforts were to find a grand unification theory of all forces. Indeed this effort continues in current physics as scientists try to complete the unification of the forces acting at the atomic level: the electro-magnetic, strong, weak and gravitational forces. While one can point to Thales and the other pre-Socratic philosophers as the first to attempt "unification" in science, the practical efforts at unification in science did not begin until the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th Centuries. This effort culminated in Newton's theory of universal gravitation uniting the force that governed the motion of celestial bodies with the force that makes heavy bodies fall on Earth. That Newton was successful in this effort was due, in large respect, to the work of Johannes Kepler in determining the laws by which planets circle the sun. Under this grant, Professors Peter Barker and Bernard Goldstein are examining Kepler's unification of astronomy and physics, and his contribution to the norms of modern science, in the context of 16th century work on astronomy and astrology, rhetoric, and religious thought. They are studying the availability and use of these disciplines in books, letters, notes, and student theses by Kepler and his contemporaries. This setting illuminates Kepler's presentation of Ptolemy, Copernicus and Brahe, and his innovations in the content and methods of science. They present the development of Kepler's ideas from the Mysterium Cosmographicum of 1596 through the Apologia pro Tychone contra Ursum of 1600 and the De Fundamentis Astrologiae Certioribus of 1602 to the Astronomia Nova of 1609. Their examination of the context of Kepler's work draws on the expertise of an international group of consultants. This study will be the first presentation of Kepler's unification of physics and astronomy in its 16th century context, treating the portion of his work from 1596 to 1609 as a whole. In addition to yielding new knowledge about a major figure and a key episode, the project's contextual approach will establish links from the history of science to wider fields of Renaissance and Reformation studies, especially history, philosophy, rhetoric and religious thought. This study of Kepler's role in the development of the modern scientific methodology will also contribute to our understanding of the historical process by which science differentiated itself from the humanities and theology.