Simon Stevin
Simon Stevin | |
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Simon Stevin (Dutch:
Biography
Very little is known with certainty about Simon Stevin's life, and what we know is mostly inferred from other recorded facts.[2] The exact birth date and the date and place of his death are uncertain. It is assumed he was born in Bruges, since he enrolled at Leiden University under the name Simon Stevinus Brugensis (meaning "Simon Stevin from Bruges"). His name is usually written as Stevin, but some documents regarding his father use the spelling Stevijn (pronunciation [ˈste:vεɪn]); this was a common spelling shift in 16th-century Dutch.[3] Simon Stevin's mother, Cathelijne (or Catelyne), was the daughter of a wealthy family from
It is believed that Stevin grew up in a relatively affluent environment and enjoyed a good education. He was likely educated at a Latin school in his hometown.[5]
Simon Stevin's travels
Stevin left Bruges in 1571 apparently without a particular destination. Stevin was most likely a
Why he had returned to Bruges in 1577 is not clear. It may have been related to the political events of that period. Bruges was the scene of intense religious conflict. Catholics and Calvinists alternately controlled the government of the city. They usually opposed each other but would occasionally collaborate in order to counteract the dictates of King Philip II of Spain. In 1576 a certain level of official religious tolerance was decreed. This could explain why Stevin returned to Bruges in 1577. Later the Calvinists seized power in many Flemish cities and incarcerated Catholic clerics and secular governors supportive of the Spanish rulers. Between 1578 and 1584 Bruges was ruled by Calvinists.
Simon Stevin in the Netherlands
In 1581 Stevin again left his native Bruges and moved to
Following William the Silent's assassination and Prince Maurice's assumption of his father's office, Stevin became the principal advisor and tutor of Prince Maurice. Prince Maurice asked his advice on many occasions, and made him a
Stevin moved to The Hague where he bought a house in 1612. He married in 1610 or 1614 and had four children. It is known that he left a widow with two children at his death in Leiden or The Hague in 1620.[4]
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Statue of Stevin (detail)
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Statue (detail): Inclined plane diagram
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Statue (detail) showing experiments on hydrostatic equilibrium
Discoveries and inventions
Stevin is responsible for many discoveries and inventions. Stevin wrote numerous bestselling books, and he was a pioneer of the development and the practical application of (engineering related) science such as
His contemporaries were most struck by his invention of a so-called
Management of waterways
Stevin's work in the waterstaet involved improvements to the
Philosophy of science
Stevin's aim was to bring about a second age of
Geometry, physics and trigonometry
Stevin was the first to show how to model regular and semiregular
Stevin contributed to trigonometry with his book, De Driehouckhandel.
In The First Book of the Elements of the Art of Weighing, The second part: Of the propositions [The Properties of Oblique Weights], Page 41, Theorem XI, Proposition XIX,
He demonstrated the resolution of forces before Pierre Varignon, which had not been remarked previously, even though it is a simple consequence of the law of their composition.[7]
Stevin discovered the
He also gave the measure for the pressure on any given portion of the side of a vessel.[7]
He was the first to explain the
In 1586, he demonstrated that two objects of different weight fall with the same acceleration.[11][12]
Music theory
The first mention of equal temperament related to the
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping by double entry may have been known to Stevin, as he was a clerk in
Decimal fractions
Stevin wrote a 35-page
His notation is rather unwieldy. The
Stevin printed little circles around the exponents of the different powers of one-tenth. That Stevin intended these encircled numerals to denote mere exponents is clear from the fact that he employed the same symbol for powers of algebraic quantities. He did not avoid fractional exponents; only negative exponents do not appear in his work.[7]
Stevin wrote on other scientific subjects – for instance optics, geography, astronomy – and a number of his writings were translated into Latin by W. Snellius (
Mathematics
Stevin wrote his Arithmetic in 1594. The work brought to the western world for the first time a general solution of the quadratic equation, originally documented nearly a millennium previously by Brahmagupta in India.
According to
Neologisms
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2016) |
Stevin thought the Dutch language to be excellent for scientific writing, and he translated many of the mathematical terms to Dutch. As a result, Dutch is one of the few Western European languages that have many mathematical terms that do not stem from Greek or Latin. This includes the very name wiskunde (mathematics).
His eye for the importance of having the scientific language be the same as the language of the craftsman may show from the dedication of his book De Thiende ('The Disme' or 'The Tenth'): 'Simon Stevin wishes the stargazers, surveyors, carpet measurers, body measurers in general, coin measurers and tradespeople good luck.' Further on in the same pamphlet, he writes: "[this text] teaches us all calculations that are needed by the people without using fractions. One can reduce all operations to adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with integers."
Some of the words he invented evolved: 'aftrekken' (subtract) and 'delen' (divide) stayed the same, but over time 'menigvuldigen' became 'vermenigvuldigen' (multiply, the added 'ver' emphasizes the fact it is an action). 'Vergaderen' (gathering) became 'optellen' (add lit. count up).
Another example is the Dutch word for diameter: 'middellijn', lit.: line through the middle.
The word 'zomenigmaal' (quotient lit. 'that many times') has been replaced by 'quotiënt' in modern-day Dutch.
Other terms did not make it into modern day mathematical Dutch, like 'teerling' (die, although still being used in the meaning as die), instead of cube.
Trivia
This section contains a list of miscellaneous information. (January 2022) |
- The study association of mechanical engineering at the land yachts.
- Stevin, cited as Stevinus, is one of the favorite authors – if not the favorite author – of Uncle Toby Shandy in Tristram ShandyGentleman.
- Quote: A man in anger is no clever dissembler.[24]
- In Bruges there is a Simon Stevin Square which holds a statue of Stevin made by Eugène Simonis. The statue incorporates Stevin's inclined plane diagram.
- Operating from the port of Ostend is a survey vessel RV Simon Stevin named after him.[25]
Publications
Amongst others, he published:
- Tafelen van Interest (Tables of interest) in 1582 with simple and compound interest and interest tables that had previously been unpublished by bankers;[4]
- Problemata geometrica in 1583;
- De Thiende (La Disme, The tenth) in 1585 in which decimals were introduced in Europe;
- La pratique d'arithmétique in 1585;
- L'arithmétique in 1585 in which he presented a uniform treatment for solving algebraic equations;
- Dialectike ofte bewysconst (Dialectics, or Art of Demonstration) in 1585 at Leyden by Christoffel Plantijn. Published again in 1621 at Rotterdam by Jan van Waesberge de Jonge.
- De Beghinselen Der Weeghconst in 1586, accompanied by De Weeghdaet;
- De Beghinselen des Waterwichts (Principles on the weight of water) in 1586 on the subject of hydrostatics;
- Vita Politica. Named Burgherlick leven (Civil life) in 1590;
- De Stercktenbouwing (The construction of fortifications) published in 1594;
- De Havenvinding (Position finding) published in 1599;
- De Hemelloop in 1608 in which he voiced support for the Copernican theory.
- In Wiskonstighe Ghedachtenissen (Mathematical Memoirs, Latin: Hypomnemata Mathematica) from 1605 to 1608. This included Simon Stevin's earlier works like De Driehouckhandel (Trigonometry), De Meetdaet (Practice of measuring), and De Deursichtighe (Perspective), which he edited and published.;[26]
- Castrametatio, dat is legermeting and Nieuwe Maniere van Stercktebou door Spilsluysen (New ways of building of sluices) published in 1617;
- De Spiegheling der Singconst (Theory of the art of singing).
- "Œuvres mathématiques..., Leiden, 1634[27]
References
- ^ Researchers later discovered that decimal fractions had already been introduced by the medieval Islamic scholar al-Uqlidisi in a book written in 952.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- ^ Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dutch original 1943, 's-Gravenhage
- ^ (nl) G. Van de Bergh Het tijdschrift De Vlaamse Stam, jaargang 34, pp. 323–328 and (nl) Bibliography to the Van Den Bergh article in De Vlaamse Stam'
- ^ a b c d O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (January 2004), "Simon Stevin", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- ^ a b The Wonderful World of Simon Stevin: 'Magic is No Magic', J. T. Devreese, G. Vanden Berghe, WIT Press, 1st ed., 2008
- ^ Dijksterhuis E.J. (ed.), The Principal Works of Simon Stevin, vol I, Mechanics (N.V. Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam 1955)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Stevinus, Simon". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ S2CID 144054163.
- ^ The Story of Science: Power, Proof & Passion – EP4: Can We Have Unlimited Power?
- ^ The Principal Works of Simon Stevin
- ^ Appendix to De Beghinselen Der Weeghconst
- ISBN 9780674971660.
- ^ "Van de spiegheling der singconst". Diapason.xentonic.org. 30 June 2009. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ISBN 9781316025482.
- ^ Volmer, Frans. "Stevin, Simon (1548–1620)." In History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia, edited by Michael Chatfield and Richard Vangermeesch. New York: Garland Publishing, 1996, pp. 565–566.
- ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (July 2009), "Al-Kashi", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- ISBN 9780486421650.
- ISBN 0-8160-4955-6.
- ISBN 3-540-13610-X.
- ^ Karin Usadi Katz and
- doi:10.1007/s10699-011-9228-9 Online First. [1]
- S2CID 119134151
- ^ simonstevin.tue.nl
- ^ Crone et al., eds. 1955–1966, Vol. I, p.11[permanent dead link]
- ^ "RV Simon Stevin. Platform for marine research". Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
- ^ The topic contained in http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Stevin.html, the relevant portion could be searched with string, "Wiskonstighe Ghedachtenissen". The summary of it may be found at the link
- ^ Stevin, Simon, Les œuvres mathématiques...
Further reading
- Virtually all of Stevin's writings have been published in five volumes with introduction and analysis in: Crone, Ernst; Dijksterhuis, E. J.; Forbes, R. J.; et al., eds. (1955–1966). The Principal Works of Simon Stevin. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. The Principal Works are available online at The Digital Library of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Does not include Dialectike ofte Bewysconst.
- Another good source about Stevin is the French-language bundle: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, ed. (2004). Simon Stevin (1548–1620): L'émergence de la nouvelle science. Turnhout: Brepols..
- A recent work on Simon Stevin in Dutch is: Devreese, J. T. en Vanden Berghe, G. (2003). Wonder en is gheen wonder. De geniale wereld van Simon Stevin 1548–1620. Leuven: Davidsfonds.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link). - A recent work on Simon Stevin in English is: Devreese, J. T. en Vanden Berghe, G. (2007). Magic is no magic. The wonderful World of Simon Stevin 1548–1620. Southampton: WITpress.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - van den Heuvel, C. (2005). De Huysbou. A reconstruction of an unfinished treatise on architecture, and civil engineering by Simon Stevin. Amsterdam: KNAW Edita. 545 pp – The work is available on line – see external links
- van Bunge, Wiep (2001). From Stevin to Spinoza: An Essay on Philosophy in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic. Leiden: Brill.
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- Wonder, not miracle motto of Simon Stevin : English page about Simon Stevin maintained by Ad Davidse Cathie Schrier with links to some of his work
- 3 Quarks Daily is a short essay on Simon Stevin by S. Abbas Raza at 3 Quarks Daily
- Simonstevin.be is an Internet bibliography regarding Simon Stevin.
- Loci: Convergence treats Stevin's use of the rule of false position.
- MathPages
- KNAW.nl link to unpublished treatise of Simon Stevin on architecture, town planning and civil engineering – C. van den Heuvel. De Huysbou.