In my previous post, The Point-atoms of Ruđer Josip Bošković: The Key to the Fields of Michael Faraday, I wrote that I intend to write about the replacement of the electrodynamics of Wilhelm Eduard Weber with that of James Clerk Maxwell. In this post, I will show how he, in the Preface to the First Edition of his
I tag along because I have an inner interest in these subjects. But tag is all I can do. I don't have the chops to really understand what is written here. Or what was written by those of yesteryear. Though I have tried.
Please keep writing, it is deeply appreciated. Though I see through a glass most dimly.
At one time, all of this stuff was also dim for me. It is only trying to read original sources, and thinking sometimes several days over key passages, and trying to write something, that I have been able to advance.
But, in the end, there is no question that philosophy, science, mathematics, are hard. Real understanding only takes place through coming back recurrently to the same topics, each time from a different perspective.
Thank you for making it possible for me to tag along. I tried very hard for most of my life (72 now). Land Surveying offered a living in applied math that I could approach. That took a lot of time to master too. I set it aside when I took care of mom who had Alzheimer 24/7 for 7 years. She had a good passing. My brother and I sat with mom on her last day watching the sun go down. She passed so quietly we were not sure exactly when she passed.
I have a number of books on the History of Mathematics, one is on Ramanujan. and math history books that are many biographies on Leibniz, Kepler, Newton, Faraday, Gauss... and more. They are not strange to me as I know in a historical sense what they worked on. However your presentation brings their work to life, by including the backdrop of the deep questions of the time.
Sadly there is no history for the great mathematicians of the Maya. Also the amazing navigational accomplishments of the Polynesian navigators, which they did without and external aid other than the Ocean going canoe. India had many great mathematicians few of them are known in the West. Their take on the Universe dwarfs even the limits of modern astronomy. China too. Amazing minds.
So I stand at the foot of K2 so to speak, knowing I don't have the physical equipment to climb it. The same is true for mathematical aptitude. However I can be amazed at those who can climb and those (like yourself) who share the deep questions these people pondered behind the mathematics.
Hi John Plaice,
I tag along because I have an inner interest in these subjects. But tag is all I can do. I don't have the chops to really understand what is written here. Or what was written by those of yesteryear. Though I have tried.
Please keep writing, it is deeply appreciated. Though I see through a glass most dimly.
All the best for the New Year, wm!
At one time, all of this stuff was also dim for me. It is only trying to read original sources, and thinking sometimes several days over key passages, and trying to write something, that I have been able to advance.
But, in the end, there is no question that philosophy, science, mathematics, are hard. Real understanding only takes place through coming back recurrently to the same topics, each time from a different perspective.
Thanks for tagging along. John
Thank you for making it possible for me to tag along. I tried very hard for most of my life (72 now). Land Surveying offered a living in applied math that I could approach. That took a lot of time to master too. I set it aside when I took care of mom who had Alzheimer 24/7 for 7 years. She had a good passing. My brother and I sat with mom on her last day watching the sun go down. She passed so quietly we were not sure exactly when she passed.
I have a number of books on the History of Mathematics, one is on Ramanujan. and math history books that are many biographies on Leibniz, Kepler, Newton, Faraday, Gauss... and more. They are not strange to me as I know in a historical sense what they worked on. However your presentation brings their work to life, by including the backdrop of the deep questions of the time.
Sadly there is no history for the great mathematicians of the Maya. Also the amazing navigational accomplishments of the Polynesian navigators, which they did without and external aid other than the Ocean going canoe. India had many great mathematicians few of them are known in the West. Their take on the Universe dwarfs even the limits of modern astronomy. China too. Amazing minds.
So I stand at the foot of K2 so to speak, knowing I don't have the physical equipment to climb it. The same is true for mathematical aptitude. However I can be amazed at those who can climb and those (like yourself) who share the deep questions these people pondered behind the mathematics.