# kb

id: history-of-geodesy-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_geodesy-9.md
category: reference
title: History of geodesy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_geodesy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:04.198645+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-geodesy-20260505-0
summary:
Friedrich Bessel was responsible for the nineteenth-century investigations of the shape of the Earth by means of the pendulum's determination of gravity and the use of Clairaut's theorem. The studies he conducted from 1825 to 1828 and his determination of the length of the pendulum beating the second in Berlin seven years later marked the beginning of a new era in geodesy. Indeed, the reversible pendulum as it was used by geodesists at the end of the 19th century was largely due to the work of Bessel, because neither Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, its inventor, nor Henry Kater who used it in 1818 brought the improvements which would result from the precious indications of Bessel, and which converted the reversible pendulum into one of the most admirable instruments which the scientists of the nineteenth century could use. The reversible pendulum built by the Repsold brothers was used in Switzerland in 1865 by Émile Plantamour for the measurement of gravity in six stations of the Swiss geodetic network. Following the example set by this country and under the patronage of the International Geodetic Association, Austria, Bavaria, Prussia, Russia and Saxony undertook gravity determinations on their respective territories. However, these results


id: history-of-geodesy-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_geodesy-10.md
category: reference
title: History of geodesy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_geodesy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:04.198645+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-geodesy-20260505-0
summary:
As Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero stated. If precision metrology had needed the help of geodesy, it could not continue to prosper without the help of metrology. Indeed, how to express all the measurements of terrestrial arcs as a function of a single unit, and all the determinations of the force of gravity with the pendulum, if metrology had not created a common unit, adopted and respected by all civilized nations, and if in addition one had not compared, with great precision, to the same unit all the rulers for measuring geodesic bases, and all the pendulum rods that had hitherto been used or would be used in the future? Only when this series of metrological comparisons would be finished with a probable error of a thousandth of a millimeter would geodesy be able to link the works of the different nations one with another, and then proclaim the result of the measurement of the Globe. In 1855, the Dufour map (French: Carte Dufour), the first topographic map of Switzerland for which the metre was adopted as the unit of length, won the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle. However, the baselines for this map were measured in 1834


id: history-of-geodesy-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_geodesy-11.md
category: reference
title: History of geodesy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_geodesy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:04.198645+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-geodesy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Geodesy and mathematics === In 1804 Johann Georg Tralles was made a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1810 he became the first holder of the chair of mathematics at the Humboldt University of Berlin. In the same year he was appointed secretary of the mathematics class at the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Tralles maintained an important correspondence with Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel and supported his appointment to the University of Königsberg. In 1809 Carl Friedrich Gauss published his method of calculating the orbits of celestial bodies. In that work he claimed to have been in possession of the method of least squares since 1795. This naturally led to a priority dispute with Adrien-Marie Legendre. However, to Gauss's credit, he went beyond Legendre and succeeded in connecting the method of least squares with the principles of probability and to the normal distribution. He had managed to complete Laplace's program of specifying a mathematical form of the probability density for the observations, depending on a finite number of unknown parameters, and define a method of estimation that minimises the error of estimation. Gauss showed that the arithmetic mean is indeed the best estimate of the location parameter by changing


id: arc-measurement-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_measurement-0.md
category: reference
title: Arc measurement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_measurement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:05.357865+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: arc-measurement-20260505-0
summary:
Arc measurement, sometimes called degree measurement (German: Gradmessung), is the astrogeodetic technique of determining the radius of Earth and, by extension, its circumference. More specifically, it seeks to determine the local Earth radius of curvature of the figure of the Earth, by relating the latitude difference (sometimes also the longitude difference) and the geographic distance (arc length) surveyed between two locations on Earth's surface. The most common variant involves only astronomical latitudes and the meridian arc length and is called meridian arc measurement; other variants may involve only astronomical longitude (parallel arc measurement) or both geographic coordinates (oblique arc measurement). Arc measurement campaigns in Europe were the precursors to the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). Nowadays, the method is replaced by worldwide geodetic networks and by satellite geodesy. == History == The first known arc measurement was performed by Eratosthenes (240 BC) between Alexandria and Syene in what is now Egypt, determining the radius of the Earth with remarkable correctness. In the early 8th century, Yi Xing performed a similar survey. The French physician Jean Fernel measured the arc in 1528. The Dutch geodesist Snellius (~1620) repeated the experiment between Alkmaar and Bergen op Zoom using more modern geodetic instrumentation


id: gromatici-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gromatici-0.md
category: reference
title: Gromatici
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gromatici
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:06.495473+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gromatici-20260505-0
summary:
Gromatici (from Latin groma or gruma, a surveyor's pole) or agrimensores was the name for land surveyors amongst the ancient Romans. The "gromatic writers" were technical writers who codified their techniques of surveying, most of whose preserved writings are found in the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum. == History == === Roman Republic === At the foundation of a colony and the assignation of lands the auspices were taken, for which purpose the presence of the augur was necessary. But the business of the augur did not extend beyond the religious part of the ceremony: the division and measurement of the land were made by professional measurers. These were the finitores mentioned by the early writers, who in the later periods were called mensores and agrimensores. The business of a finitor could only be done by a free man, and the honourable nature of his office is indicated by the rule that there was no bargain for his services, but he received his pay in the form of a gift. These finitores appear also to have acted as judices, under the name of arbitri (single arbiter), in those disputes about boundaries which were purely of a technical, not a legal, character. The


id: gromatici-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gromatici-1.md
category: reference
title: Gromatici
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gromatici
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:06.495473+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gromatici-20260505-0
summary:
The earliest of the gromatic writers was Frontinus, whose De agrorum qualitate, dealing with the legal aspect of the art, was the subject of a commentary by Aggenus Urbicus, a Christian schoolmaster. Under Trajan a certain Balbus, who had accompanied the emperor on his Dacian campaign, wrote a still extant manual of geometry for land surveyors (Expositio et ratio omnium formarum or mensurarum, probably after a Greek original by Hero), dedicated to a certain Celsus who had invented an improvement in a gromatic instrument (perhaps the dioptra, resembling the modern theodolite); for the treatises of Hyginus see that name. Somewhat later than Trajan was Siculus Flaccus (De condicionibus agrorum, extant), while the most curious treatise on the subject, written in barbarous Latin and entitled Casae litterarum (long a school textbook) is the work of a certain Innocentius (4th-5th century). It is doubtful whether Boetius is the author of the treatises attributed to him. The Gromatici veteres also contains extracts from official registers (probably belonging to the 5th century) of colonial and other land surveys, lists and descriptions of boundary stones, and extracts from the Theodosian Codex. According to Mommsen, the collection had its origin during the 5th century in the


id: meridian-arc-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc-0.md
category: reference
title: Meridian arc
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:10.082408+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: meridian-arc-20260505-0
summary:
In geodesy and navigation, a meridian arc is the curve between two points near the Earth's surface having the same longitude. The term may refer either to a segment of the meridian, or to its length. Both the practical determination of meridian arcs (employing measuring instruments in field campaigns) and their theoretical calculation (based on geometry and abstract mathematics) have been pursued for many years. == Measurement == The purpose of measuring meridian arcs is to determine a figure of the Earth. One or more measurements of meridian arcs can be used to infer the shape of the reference ellipsoid that best approximates the geoid in the region of the measurements. Measurements of meridian arcs at several latitudes along many meridians around the world can be combined in order to approximate a geocentric ellipsoid intended to fit the entire world. The earliest determinations of the size of a spherical Earth required a single arc. Accurate survey work beginning in the 19th century required several arc measurements in the region the survey was to be conducted, leading to a proliferation of reference ellipsoids around the world. The latest determinations use astro-geodetic measurements and the methods of satellite geodesy to determine reference


id: meridian-arc-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc-1.md
category: reference
title: Meridian arc
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:10.082408+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: meridian-arc-20260505-0
summary:
== 19th century == From the French revolution of 1789 came an effort to reform measurement standards, leading ultimately to an extravagant effort to measure the meridian passing through Paris in order to define the metre. The question of measurement reform was placed in the hands of the French Academy of Sciences, who appointed a commission chaired by Jean-Charles de Borda. Instead of the seconds pendulum method, the commission of the French Academy of Sciences – whose members included Borda, Lagrange, Laplace, Monge and Condorcet – decided that the new measure should be equal to one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator (the quadrant of the Earth's circumference), measured along the meridian passing through Paris at the longitude of Paris pantheon, which became the central geodetic station in Paris. Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre obtained the fundamental co-ordinates of the Pantheon by triangulating all the geodetic stations around Paris from the Pantheon's dome. Apart from the obvious consideration of safe access for French surveyors, the Paris meridian was also a sound choice for scientific reasons: a portion of the quadrant from Dunkirk to Barcelona (about 1000 km, or one-tenth of the total) could be surveyed with


id: meridian-arc-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc-2.md
category: reference
title: Meridian arc
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:10.082408+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: meridian-arc-20260505-0
summary:
End of November 1798, Delambre and Méchain returned to Paris with their data, having completed the survey to meet a foreign commission composed of representatives of Batavian Republic: Henricus Aeneae and Jean Henri van Swinden, Cisalpine Republic: Lorenzo Mascheroni, Kingdom of Denmark: Thomas Bugge, Kingdom of Spain: Gabriel Císcar and Agustín de Pedrayes, Helvetic Republic: Johann Georg Tralles, Ligurian Republic: Ambrogio Multedo, Kingdom of Sardinia: Prospero Balbo, Antonio Vassali Eandi, Roman Republic: Pietro Franchini, Tuscan Republic: Giovanni Fabbroni who had been invited by Talleyrand. The French commission comprised Jean-Charles de Borda, Barnabé Brisson, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, Jean Darcet, René Just Haüy, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Pierre- Simon Laplace, Louis Lefèvre-Ginneau, Pierre Méchain and Gaspar de Prony. In 1799, a commission including Johann Georg Tralles, Jean Henri van Swinden, Adrien-Marie Legendre, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Gabriel Císcar, Pierre Méchain and Jean-Baptiste Delambre calculated the distance from Dunkirk to Barcelona using the data of the triangulation between these two towns and determined the portion of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator it represented. Pierre Méchain's and Jean-Baptiste Delambre's measurements were combined with the results of the French Geodetic Mission to the Equator and a value of ⁠1/334⁠ was found for the Earth's flattening.


id: meridian-arc-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc-3.md
category: reference
title: Meridian arc
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:10.082408+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: meridian-arc-20260505-0
summary:
m ( φ ) = b ∫ 0 β 1 + e ′ 2 sin 2 ⁡ β d β , {\displaystyle m(\varphi )=b\int _{0}^{\beta }{\sqrt {1+e'^{2}\sin ^{2}\beta }}\,d\beta \,,} where tan β = (1 − f)tan φ and e′2 = ⁠e2/1 − e2⁠. Even though latitude is normally confined to the range [−⁠π/2⁠,⁠π/2⁠], all the formulae given here apply to measuring distance around the complete meridian ellipse (including the anti-meridian). Thus the ranges of φ, β, and the rectifying latitude μ, are unrestricted. === Relation to elliptic integrals === The above integral is related to a special case of an incomplete elliptic integral of the third kind. In the notation of the online NIST handbook (Section 19.2(ii)), m ( φ ) = a ( 1 − e 2 ) Π ( φ , e 2 , e ) . {\displaystyle m(\varphi )=a\left(1-e^{2}\right)\,\Pi (\varphi ,e^{2},e)\,.} It may also be written in terms of incomplete elliptic integrals of the second kind (See the NIST handbook Section 19.6(iv)), m ( φ ) = a ( E ( φ , e ) − e 2 sin ⁡ φ cos ⁡ φ 1 − e 2 sin ⁡ 2 φ ) = a (


id: meridian-arc-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc-4.md
category: reference
title: Meridian arc
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:10.082408+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: meridian-arc-20260505-0
summary:
Because this series provides an expansion for the elliptic integral of the second kind, it can be used to write the arc length in terms of the geodetic latitude as m ( φ ) = a + b 2 ( B 0 φ − B 2 sin ⁡ 2 φ + B 4 sin ⁡ 4 φ − B 6 sin ⁡ 6 φ + B 8 sin ⁡ 8 φ − ⋯ − 2 n sin ⁡ 2 φ 1 + 2 n cos ⁡ 2 φ + n 2 ) . {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}m(\varphi )={\frac {a+b}{2}}{\Biggl (}&B_{0}\varphi -B_{2}\sin 2\varphi +B_{4}\sin 4\varphi -B_{6}\sin 6\varphi +B_{8}\sin 8\varphi -\cdots \\[-3mu]&\quad -{\frac {2n\sin 2\varphi }{\sqrt {1+2n\cos 2\varphi +n^{2}}}}{\Biggr )}.\end{aligned}}} ==== Generalized series ==== The above series, to eighth order in eccentricity or fourth order in third flattening, provide millimetre accuracy. With the aid of symbolic algebra systems, they can easily be extended to sixth order in the third flattening which provides full double precision accuracy for terrestrial applications. As described, Delambre and Bessel both wrote their series in a form that allows them to be generalized to arbitrary order. The coefficients in Bessel's series can be expressed particularly simply B 2 k =


id: meridian-arc-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc-5.md
category: reference
title: Meridian arc
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_arc
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:10.082408+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: meridian-arc-20260505-0
summary:
== The inverse meridian problem for the ellipsoid == In some problems, we need to be able to solve the inverse problem: given the arc length m, find the latitude φ. This may be solved by Newton's method, iterating φ i + 1 = φ i − m ( φ i ) − m M ( φ i ) , {\displaystyle \varphi _{i+1}=\varphi _{i}-{\frac {m(\varphi _{i})-m}{M(\varphi _{i})}}\,,} until convergence. A suitable starting guess is given by φ0 = μ where μ = π 2 m m p {\displaystyle \mu ={\frac {\pi }{2}}{\frac {m}{m_{\mathrm {p} }}}} is the rectifying latitude. Note that it there is no need to differentiate the series for m(φ), since the formula for the meridian radius of curvature M(φ) can be used instead. Alternatively, Helmert's series for the meridian distance can be reverted to give φ = μ + H 2 ′ sin ⁡ 2 μ + H 4 ′ sin ⁡ 4 μ + H 6 ′ sin ⁡ 6 μ + H 8 ′ sin ⁡ 8 μ + ⋯ {\displaystyle \varphi =\mu +H'_{2}\sin 2\mu +H'_{4}\sin 4\mu +H'_{6}\sin 6\mu +H'_{8}\sin 8\mu +\cdots } where H 2 ′ = 3 2 n − 27 32 n


id: history-of-the-metre-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre-0.md
category: reference
title: History of the metre
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:11.330739+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metre-20260505-0
summary:
During the French Revolution, the traditional units of measure were to be replaced by consistent measures based on natural phenomena. As a base unit of length, scientists had favoured the seconds pendulum (a pendulum with a half-period of one second) one century earlier, but this was rejected as it had been discovered that this length varied from place to place with local gravity. The mètre was introduced – defined as one ten-millionth of the shortest distance from the North Pole to the equator passing through Paris, assuming an Earth flattening of ⁠1/334⁠. Following the arc measurement of Delambre and Méchain, the historical French official standard of the metre was made available in the form of the Mètre des Archives, a platinum bar held in Paris. It was originally also planned to dematerialise the definition of the metre by counting the number of swings of a one-metre-long pendulum during a day at a latitude of 45°. However, dematerialising the definition of units of length by means of the pendulum would prove less reliable than artefacts. During the mid nineteenth century, following the American Revolution and the decolonisation of the Americas, the metre gained adoption in Americas, particularly in scientific usage, and


id: history-of-the-metre-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre-1.md
category: reference
title: History of the metre
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:11.330739+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metre-20260505-0
summary:
=== Adoption === In the 19th century, measuring instruments calibrated on the metre were devised for American, Spanish and Egyptian cartography. One of the iron metre standards was brought to the United States in 1805. It became known as the Committee Meter in the United States and served as a standard of length in the United States Coast Survey until 1890. In 1855, the Dufour map (French: Carte Dufour), the first topographic map of Switzerland for which the metre was adopted as the unit of length, won the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle. On the sidelines of the Exposition Universelle (1855) and the second Congress of Statistics held in Paris, an association with a view to obtaining a uniform decimal system of measures, weights and currencies was created in 1855. A Committee for Weights and Measures and Monies (French: Comité des poids, mesures et monnaies) was created during the Exposition Universelle (1867) in Paris and called for the international adoption of the metric system. In the United States, the Metric Act of 1866 allowed the use of the metre in the United States, and in 1867 the General Conference of the European Arc Measurement (German: Europäische Gradmessung) proposed the


id: history-of-the-metre-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre-2.md
category: reference
title: History of the metre
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:11.330739+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metre-20260505-0
summary:
The unit of length is the metre, defined by the distance, at 0°, between the axes of the two central lines marked on the bar of platinum–iridium kept at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures and declared Prototype of the metre by the 1st Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, this bar being subject to standard atmospheric pressure and supported on two cylinders of at least one centimetre diameter, symmetrically placed in the same horizontal plane at a distance of 571 mm from each other. These support locations are at the Bessel points of the prototype – the support points, separated by 0.5594 of the total length of the bar, that minimise shortening of the bar due to bending under its own weight. Because the prototype is a line standard, its full length is 102 cm, slightly longer than 1 metre. Cross-sectionally, it measures 16 mm × 16 mm. The representation of the unit of length by means of the distance between two fine lines on the surface of a bar of metal at a certain temperature is never itself free from uncertainty and probable error, owing to the difficulty of knowing at any moment the precise temperature of


id: history-of-the-metre-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre-3.md
category: reference
title: History of the metre
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:11.330739+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metre-20260505-0
summary:
The krypton-86 discharge lamp operating at the triple point of nitrogen (63.14 K, −210.01 °C) was the state-of-the-art light source for interferometry in 1960, but it was soon to be superseded by a new invention: the laser, of which the first working version was constructed in the same year as the redefinition of the metre. Laser light is usually highly monochromatic, and is also coherent (all the light has the same phase, unlike the light from a discharge lamp), both of which are advantageous for interferometry. The shortcomings of the krypton standard were demonstrated by the measurement of the wavelength of the light from a methane-stabilised helium–neon laser (λ ≈ 3.39 μm). The krypton line was found to be asymmetrical, so different wavelengths could be found for the laser light depending on which point on the krypton line was taken for reference. The asymmetry also affected the precision to which the wavelengths could be measured. Developments in electronics also made it possible for the first time to measure the frequency of light in or near the visible region of the spectrum, instead of inferring the frequency from the wavelength and the speed of light. Although visible and infrared frequencies were


id: metre-convention-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-0.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
The Metre Convention (French: Convention du Mètre), also known as the Treaty of the Metre, is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations: Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Ottoman Empire, United States of America, and Venezuela. The treaty created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), an intergovernmental organization, under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the supervision of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM). These organizations coordinate international metrology and the development of internationally recognized systems of measurement. The Metre Convention established a permanent organizational structure for member governments to act in common accord on all matters relating to units of measurement. The governing organs of the BIPM are: The General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conférence générale des poids et mesures or CGPM)—the plenary organ of the BIPM which consists of the delegates of all the contracting governments, and The International Committee for Weights and Measures (Comité international des poids et mesures or CIPM)—the direction and supervision organ composed of 18 prominent metrologists from 18 different member states


id: metre-convention-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-1.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
== Cartography and the metre == The American Revolution, in which the United States was supported by France and Spain, led to the founding of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 and the creation of the Office of Standard Weights and Measures in 1830. During the mid-19th century, the metre was adopted in Khedivate of Egypt an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire for cadastral surveying. In continental Europe, adoption of the metric system and a better standardisation of units of measurement marked the Technological Revolution, a period in which German Empire would challenge United Kingdom as the foremost industrial nation in Europe. This was accompanied by development in cartography which was a prerequisite for both military operations and the creation of the infrastructures needed for industrial development such as railways. During the process of unification of Germany, geodesists called for the establishment of an International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Europe. === Swiss, American, Spanish and Egyptian cartography === The Helvetic Republic adopted the metric system by law in 1801. In 1805, a Swiss immigrant Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler brought copies of the French metre and kilogram to the United States. In 1830 the Congress decided to


id: metre-convention-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-2.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
In 1816, Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler was appointed first Superintendent of the Survey of the Coast. Trained in geodesy in Switzerland, France and Germany, Hassler had brought a standard metre made in Paris to the United States in October 1805. He designed a baseline apparatus which instead of bringing different bars in actual contact during measurements, used only one bar calibrated on the Committee meter, an authenthic copy of the Mètre des Archives, and optical contact. In 1830, Hassler became head of the Office of Weights and Measures, which became a part of the Survey of the Coast. He compared various units of length used in the United States at that time and measured coefficients of expansion to assess temperature effects on the measurements. In 1834, Hassler, measured at Fire Island the first baseline of the Survey of the Coast, shortly before Louis Puissant declared to the French Academy of Sciences in 1836 that Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre and Pierre Méchain had made errors in the meridian arc measurement, which had been used to determine the length of the metre. In 1855, the Dufour map (French: Carte Dufour), the first topographic map of Switzerland for which the metre was adopted as


id: metre-convention-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-3.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
=== European geodesy === In Europe, except Spain, surveyors continued to use measuring instruments calibrated on the Toise of Peru. Among these, the toise of Bessel and the apparatus of Borda were respectively the main references for geodesy in Prussia and in France. These measuring devices consisted of bimetallic rulers in platinum and brass or iron and zinc fixed together at one extremity to assess the variations in length produced by any change in temperature. The combination of two bars made of two different metals allowed to take thermal expansion into account without measuring the temperature. A French scientific instrument maker, Jean Nicolas Fortin, made three direct copies of the Toise of Peru, one for Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, a second for Heinrich Christian Schumacher in 1821 and a third for Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in 1823. In 1831, Henri-Prudence Gambey also realised a copy of the Toise of Peru which was kept at Altona Observatory in Hamburg. In the second half of the 19th century, the creation of the Central European Arc Measurement (German: Mitteleuropäische Gradmessung) would mark, following Carl Friedrich Gauss, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel and Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve examples, the systematic adoption of more rigorous methods


id: metre-convention-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-4.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
=== The International Metre Commission (1870/1872) === Prior to the 1870 conference, French politicians had feared that the British might reject the existing metre and would prefer to have new value of its theoretical length. However, James Clerk Maxwell wrote in 1865 that no scientist could become famous proposing a metre deduced from new measurements of the size of the Earth, while Adolphe Hirsch would recall, in his 1891 obituary of Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero, that the International Metre Commission had decided not to propose a new length for the metre. In July 1870, two weeks before the conference was due to start, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Although the delegates did meet (without a German delegation), it was agreed that the conference should be recalled once all the delegates (including the German delegation) were present. Following the war, which resulted in Napoleon III's exile, Germany and Italy, now unified nations, adopted the metric system as their national system of units, but with the prototype copy of the kilogram and metre under the control of the French Third Republic. In 1872 the new republican government reissued the invitations and the same year scientists from thirty European and American


id: metre-convention-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-5.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
== The 1875 conferences in Paris == The principal tasks facing the delegates at the 1875 Diplomatic Conference on the Metre was the replacement of the existing metre and kilogram artefacts that were held by the French Government and the setting up of an organization to administer the maintenance of standards around the globe. The conference did not concern itself with other units of measure. The conference had undertones of Franco-German political manoeuvring, particularly since the French had been humiliated by the Prussians during the war a few years previously. Although France lost control of the metric system, they ensured that it passed to international rather than German control and that the international headquarters were in Paris. While the German astronomer Wilhelm Julius Foerster along with the Russian and Austrian representatives had boycotted the Permanent Committee of the International Metre Commission in order to prompt the reunion of the Diplomatic Conference of the Metre and to promote the foundation of a permanent International Bureau of Weights and Measures, Adolphe Hirsch, delegate of Switzerland at this Diplomatic Conference in 1875, conformed to the opinion of Italy and Spain to create, in spite of French reluctance, the International Bureau of Weights and


id: metre-convention-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-6.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
==== General Conference on Weights and Measures ==== The General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conférence générale des poids et mesures or CGPM) is the principal decision-making body put on place by the convention. It is made up of delegates from member states and [non-voting] observers from associate states and economies. The conference usually meets every four years to receive and discuss a report from the CIPM and to endorse new developments in the SI on the advice of the CIPM though at the 2011 meeting, it agreed to meet again in 2014 rather than 2015 to discuss the maturity of the new SI proposals. It is also responsible for new appointments to the CIPM and decides on major issues concerning the development and financing of the BIPM. According to the Metre Convention (Art. 4) the President of the French Academy of Sciences is also the President of the General Conference on Weights and Measures. ==== International Committee for Weights and Measures ==== The International Committee for Weights and Measures (Comité international des poids et mesures or CIPM) is made up of eighteen (originally fourteen) individuals from a member state of high scientific standing, nominated by the CGPM to advise


id: metre-convention-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-7.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
The metre convention was originally drawn up with the main purpose of providing standards of length and mass only. Standards relating to other quantities were under the control of other bodies – time was measured by astronomers, electrical units by a series of ad-hoc international conferences, and other physical standards and concepts were maintained or defined by international bodies such as International Congress of Applied Chemistry or the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. In 1901 Giorgi published a proposal for building a coherent set of units based on four base units – the metre, kilogram, second and one electrical unit (ampere, volt or ohm). In 1921 the convention was extended to permit the promotion of standards relating to any physical quantity which greatly increased the scope of the CIPM's remit and implicitly giving it freedom to exploit Giorgi's proposals. The 8th CGPM (1933) resolved to work with other international bodies to agree to standards for electrical units that could be related back to the international prototypes. This was agreed in principle by the International Electrotechnical Commission at its congress in Brussels in 1935 subject to the choice of the fourth unit being agreed with, amongst others, the appropriate


id: metre-convention-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention-8.md
category: reference
title: Metre Convention
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:12.655343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metre-convention-20260505-0
summary:
=== Coordination of International Atomic Time === With the advent of the atomic clock it has been possible to define and measure International Atomic Time with sufficient precision that variations in the Earth's rotation can be detected. The International Earth Rotation Service monitors these changes relative to the stars at regular intervals and proposes leap seconds as and when these are needed. Currently there are over 200 atomic clocks in over 50 national laboratories around the world and the BIPM, in terms of the mandate given to it under the Metre Convention, coordinates the various atomic clocks. === New SI === After 1960, when the definition of the metre was linked to a particular wavelength of light rather than the international prototype of the metre, the only unit of measure that remained dependent on a particular artefact was the kilogram. Over the years, small drifts which could be as high as 20×10−9 kilograms per annum in the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram were detected. At the 21st meeting of the CGPM (1999), national laboratories were urged to investigate ways of breaking the link between the kilogram and a specific artefact. Independently of this drift having been identified,


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-0.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
The history of the metric system began during the Age of Enlightenment with measures of length and weight derived from nature, along with their decimal multiples and fractions. The system became the standard of France and Europe within half a century. Other measures with unity ratios were added, and the system went on to be adopted across the world. The first practical realisation of the metric system came in 1799, during the French Revolution, after the existing system of measures had become impractical for trade, and was replaced by a decimal system based on the kilogram and the metre. The basic units were taken from the natural world. The unit of length, the metre, was based on the dimensions of the Earth, and the unit of mass, the kilogram, was based on the mass of a volume of water of one litre (a cubic decimetre). Reference copies for both units were manufactured in platinum and remained the standards of measure for the next 90 years. After a period of reversion to the mesures usuelles due to unpopularity of the metric system, the metrication of France and much of Europe was complete by the 1850s. In the middle of the 19th


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-1.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
=== Clocks and pendulums === In 1656, Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens invented the pendulum clock, with its pendulum marking the seconds. This gave rise to proposals to use its length as a standard unit. But it became apparent that the pendulum lengths of calibrated clocks in different locations varied (due to local variations in the acceleration due to gravity), and this was not a good solution. A more uniform standard was needed. In 1670, Gabriel Mouton, a French abbot and astronomer, published the book Observationes diametrorum solis et lunae apparentium ("Observations of the apparent diameters of the Sun and Moon") in which he proposed a decimal system of measurement of length for use by scientists in international communication, to be based on the dimensions of the Earth. The milliare would be defined as a minute of arc along a meridian (such as the Paris meridian) and would be divided into 10 centuria, the centuria into 10 decuria and so on, successive units being the virga, virgula, decima, centesima, and the millesima. Mouton used Riccioli's estimate that one degree of arc was 321,185 Bolognese feet. Mouton's experiments showed that a pendulum of length one virgula would beat 3959.2 times in half


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-2.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
In 1790, a panel of five leading French scientists was appointed by the Académie des sciences to investigate weights and measures. They were Jean-Charles de Borda, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Gaspard Monge, and Nicolas de Condorcet. Over the following year, the panel, after studying various alternatives, made a series of recommendations regarding a new system of weights and measures, including that it should have a decimal radix, that the unit of length should be based on a fractional arc of a quadrant of the Earth's meridian, and that the unit of weight should be that of a cube of water whose dimension was a decimal fraction of the unit of length. The proposals were accepted by the French Assembly on 30 March 1791. Following acceptance, the Académie des sciences was instructed to implement the proposals. The Académie broke the tasks into five operations, allocating each part to a separate working group: Measuring the difference in latitude between Dunkirk and Barcelona and triangulating between them Measuring the baselines used for the survey Verifying the length of the second pendulum at 45° latitude. Verifying the weight in a vacuum of a given volume of distilled water. Publishing conversion tables relating the new


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-3.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
Delambre used a baseline of about 10 km in length along a straight road, located close to Melun. In an operation taking six weeks, the baseline was accurately measured using four platinum rods, each of length two toises (about 3.9 m). Thereafter he used, where possible, the triangulation points used by Cassini in his 1744 survey of France. Méchain's baseline, of a similar length, and also on a straight section of road was in the Perpignan area. Although Méchain's sector was half the length of Delambre, it included the Pyrenees and hitherto unsurveyed parts of Spain. After the two surveyors met, each computed the other's baseline in order to cross-check their results and they then recomputed the metre as 443.296 lignes, notably shorter than the 1795 provisional value of 443.44 lignes. On 15 November 1798, Delambre and Méchain returned to Paris with their data, having completed the survey. The final value of the mètre was defined in 1799 as the computed value from the survey. Historical note: It soon became apparent that Méchain and Delambre's result (443.296 lignes) was slightly too short for the meridional definition of the metre. Méchain had made a small error measuring the latitude of Barcelona,


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-4.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
=== The first structured metric system: CGS === In 1861, a committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) including William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), James Clerk Maxwell, and James Prescott Joule among its members was tasked with investigating the "Standards of Electrical Resistance". In their first report (1862), they laid the ground rules for their work—the metric system was to be used, measures of electrical energy must have the same units as measures of mechanical energy, and two sets of electromagnetic units would have to be derived—an electromagnetic system and an electrostatic system. In the second report (1863), they introduced the concept of a coherent system of units whereby units of length, mass, and time were identified as "fundamental units" (now known as base units). All other units of measure could be derived (hence derived units) from these base units. The metre, gram, and second were chosen as base units. In 1861, before a meeting of the BAAS, Charles Bright and Latimer Clark proposed the names of ohm, volt, and farad in honour of Georg Ohm, Alessandro Volta, and Michael Faraday respectively for the practical units based on the CGS absolute system. This was supported by


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-5.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
==== Quadrant–eleventhgram–second (QES) or International System of Electrical and Magnetic Units ==== The CGS units of measure used in scientific work were not practical for engineering, leading to the development of a more applicable system of electric units especially for telegraphy. The unit of length was 107 m (the hebdometre, nominally the Earth quadrant), the unit of mass was an unnamed unit equal to 10−11 g and the unit of time was the second. The units of mass and length were scaled incongruously to yield more consistent and usable electric units in terms of mechanical measures. Informally called the "practical" system, it was properly termed the quadrant–eleventhgram–second (QES) system of units according to convention. The definitions of electrical units incorporated the magnetic constant like the EMU system, and the names of the units were carried over from that system, but scaled according to the defined mechanical units. The system was formalised as the International system late in the 19th century and its units later designated the "international ampere", "international volt", etc. ==== Heaviside–Lorentz system of units ==== The factor 4 π {\displaystyle 4\pi } that occurs in Maxwell's equations in the gaussian system (and the other CGS systems) comes from


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-6.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
Conférence générale des poids et mesures (CGPM or General Conference on Weights and Measures), an intergovernmental conference of official delegates of member nations and the supreme authority for all actions; Comité international des poids et mesures (CIPM or International Committee for Weights and Measures), consisting of selected scientists and metrologists, which prepares and executes the decisions of the CGPM and is responsible for the supervision of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM or International Bureau of Weights and Measures), a permanent laboratory and world centre of scientific metrology, the activities of which include the establishment of the basic standards and scales of the principal physical quantities, maintenance of the international prototype standards, and oversight of regular comparisons between the international prototype and the various national standards. The international prototype of the metre and international prototype of the kilogram were both made from a 90% platinum, 10% iridium alloy which is exceptionally hard and which has good electrical and thermal conductivity properties. The prototype had a special X-shaped (Tresca) cross section to minimise the effects of torsional strain during length comparisons and the prototype kilograms were cylindrical in shape. The London firm Johnson


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-7.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
== Working draft of SI: Practical system of units == The 9th CGPM met in 1948, fifteen years after the 8th CGPM. In response to formal requests made by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and by the French government to establish a practical system of units of measure, the CGPM requested the CIPM to prepare recommendations for a single practical system of units of measurement, suitable for adoption by all countries adhering to the Metre Convention. The CIPM's draft proposal was an extensive revision and simplification of the metric unit definitions, symbols, and terminology based on the MKS system of units. Following astronomical observations, the second was set as a fraction of the year 1900. The electromagnetic base unit, as required by Giorgi, was accepted as the ampere. After negotiations with the CIS and IUPAP, two additional units—the degree kelvin and the candela—were also proposed as base units. For the first time, the CGPM made recommendations concerning derived units. At the same time, the CGPM adopted conventions for the writing and printing of unit symbols and numbers and catalogued the symbols for the most important MKS and CGS units of measure. === Time === Until the advent


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-8.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
=== New base and derived units === Over the ensuing years, the BIPM developed and maintained cross-correlations relating various measuring devices such as thermocouples, light spectra, and the like to the equivalent temperatures. The mole was originally known as a gram-atom or a gram-molecule—the amount of a substance measured in grams divided by its atomic weight. Originally chemists and physicists had differing views regarding the definition of the atomic weight—both assigned a value of 16 atomic mass units (amu) to oxygen, but physicists defined oxygen in terms of the 16O isotope whereas chemists assigned 16 amu to 16O, 17O and 18O isotopes mixed in the proportion that they occur in nature. Finally, an agreement between the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) brought this duality to an end in 1959/60, both parties agreeing to define the atomic weight of 12C as being exactly 12 amu. This agreement was confirmed by ISO and in 1969 the CIPM recommended its inclusion in SI as a base unit. This was done in 1971 at the 14th CGPM. === Start of migration to constant definitions === The second major trend in the


id: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system-9.md
category: reference
title: History of the metric system
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:14.191782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-the-metric-system-20260505-0
summary:
At its 23rd meeting (2007), the CGPM mandated the CIPM to investigate the use of natural constants as the basis for all units of measure rather than the artefacts that were then in use. The following year, this was endorsed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). At a meeting of the CCU held in Reading, United Kingdom, in September 2010, a resolution and draft changes to the SI brochure that were to be presented to the next meeting of the CIPM in October 2010 were agreed in principle. The CIPM meeting of October 2010 found that "the conditions set by the General Conference at its 23rd meeting have not yet been fully met. For this reason the CIPM does not propose a revision of the SI at the present time". The CIPM, however, presented a resolution for consideration at the 24th CGPM (17–21 October 2011) to agree to the new definitions in principle, but not to implement them until the details had been finalised. In the revision, four of the seven SI base units—the kilogram, ampere, kelvin, and mole—were redefined by setting exact numerical values for the Planck constant (h), the elementary electric charge (e), the


id: timeline-of-international-kilogram-prototypes-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_International_Kilogram_Prototypes-0.md
category: reference
title: Timeline of International Kilogram Prototypes
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_International_Kilogram_Prototypes
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:15.482306+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: timeline-of-international-kilogram-prototypes-20260505-0
summary:
Official copies of the International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK), the 1 kg platinum–iridium alloy right circular cylinders, disseminated the kilogram from 1889 until the redefinition based on physical constants in 2019. These prototypes underpinned global trust in scientific discovery, industrial manufacturing, and international trade for over a century. Under the Metre Convention's framework for international collaboration in metrology, the pure platinum "Kilogram of the Archives" standard from 1799 was replaced by the platinum–iridium International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK) in 1879. Pure platinum was too soft for a durable mass standard, but the addition of just 10% iridium in the alloy greatly increased hardness while still retaining extreme resistance to oxidation, extremely high density, and low magnetic susceptibility. The harder alloy reduced wear and allowed the prototypes to be finished to a high polish, minimising variability. The IPK and six sister copies are stored under secure environmental controls at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in the Pavillon de Breteuil. Other copies, manufactured primarily by Johnson Matthey beginning in 1879, were distributed to national metrology institutes of countries that had ratified and conformed to the Treaty of the Metre (and to certain non‑national organisations). Each copy carries


id: history-of-time-in-the-united-states-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_time_in_the_United_States-0.md
category: reference
title: History of time in the United States
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_time_in_the_United_States
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:21.245464+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-time-in-the-united-states-20260505-0
summary:
On November 18, 1883, United States and Canadian railroads instituted standard time in time zones. Before then, time of day was a local matter, and most cities and towns used some form of local solar time, maintained by some well-known clock (for example, on a church steeple or in a jeweler's window). The standard time system was not immediately embraced by all. Standard time in time zones was established in U.S. law in the Standard Time Act on March 19, 1918, at which time daylight saving time was also instituted. Use of standard time gradually increased because of its obvious practical advantages for communication and travel. Standard time in time zones was established in U.S. law in the Standard Time Act on March 19, 1918. The act established daylight saving time, which was and is a contentious idea. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law, with the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) having the authority over time zone boundaries. Daylight time became a local matter; ultimately, it was reinstated nationally early in World War II and was continuously observed until the end of the war. After the war its use varied among


id: history-of-time-in-the-united-states-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_time_in_the_United_States-1.md
category: reference
title: History of time in the United States
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_time_in_the_United_States
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:21.245464+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-time-in-the-united-states-20260505-0
summary:
From 1945 to 1966 U.S. federal law did not address DST. States and cities were free to observe DST or not, and most places that did observe DST did so from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in September. In the mid-1950s many areas in the northeastern United States began extending DST to the last Sunday in October. The lack of standardization led to a patchwork where some areas observed DST while adjacent areas did not, and it was not unheard of to have to reset a clock several times during a short trip (e.g., bus drivers operating on West Virginia Route 2 between Moundsville, West Virginia, and Steubenville, Ohio, had to reset their watches seven times over 35 miles). == Uniform Time Act == In the mid-1960s the airline and other transportation industries lobbied for uniformity of DST dates in the United States. The federal Uniform Time Act became law on April 13, 1966, and it mandated that DST begin nationwide on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, effective in 1967. The act explicitly preempted all previously enacted state laws related to the beginning and ending of DST effective


id: history-of-time-in-the-united-states-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_time_in_the_United_States-2.md
category: reference
title: History of time in the United States
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_time_in_the_United_States
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:21.245464+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-time-in-the-united-states-20260505-0
summary:
=== Controversy === Since DST moves sunrise one hour later by the clock, late sunrise times become a problem when DST is observed either too far before the March equinox or too far after the September equinox. Because of this, the extension was greeted with criticism by those concerned for the safety of children who would have been forced to travel to school before sunrise, especially in the month of March. In addition, the airline industry was especially concerned if DST were to be extended through to the last Sunday in November, as this is very often the Sunday after Thanksgiving (except for 2013, 2019, 2024, and 2030), as this is always the Sunday after the fourth Friday in November, and Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday in November. This is one of the busiest travel days at American airports, and could have resulted in much havoc among travelers who forgot that the clocks were changing that day. If the original proposal to extend DST through the last Sunday in November had been adopted, the entire United States, with the exception of the states that exempted themselves, would have experienced the latest sunrises of the year during the month of


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-0.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
The history of timekeeping devices dates back to when ancient civilizations first observed astronomical bodies as they moved across the sky. Devices and methods for keeping time have gradually improved through a series of new inventions, starting with measuring time by continuous processes, such as the flow of liquid in water clocks, to mechanical clocks, and eventually repetitive, oscillatory processes, such as the swing of pendulums. Oscillating timekeepers are used in modern timepieces. Sundials and water clocks were first used in ancient Egypt c. 1200 BC and later by the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Chinese. Incense clocks were being used in China by the 6th century. In the medieval period, Islamic water clocks were unrivalled in their sophistication until the mid-14th century. The hourglass, invented in Europe, was one of the few reliable methods of measuring time at sea. In medieval Europe, purely mechanical clocks were developed after the invention of the bell-striking alarm, used to signal the correct time to ring monastic bells. The weight-driven mechanical clock controlled by the action of a verge and foliot was a synthesis of earlier ideas from European and Islamic science. Mechanical clocks were a major breakthrough, one notably designed and built


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-1.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. A clay tablet from the late Babylonian period describes the lengths of shadows at different times of the year. The Babylonian writer Berossos (fl. 3rd century BC) is credited by the Greeks with the invention of a hemispherical sundial hollowed out of stone; the path of the shadow was divided into 12 parts to mark the time. Greek sundials evolved to become highly sophisticated—Ptolemy's Analemma, written in the 2nd century AD, used an early form of trigonometry to derive the position of the Sun from data such as the hour of day and the geographical latitude. The Romans inherited the sundial from the Greeks. The first sundial in Rome arrived in 264 BC, looted


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-2.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
The Greek philosophers Anaxagoras and Empedocles both referred to water clocks that were used to enforce time limits or measure the passing of time. The Athenian philosopher Plato is supposed to have invented an alarm clock that used lead balls cascading noisily onto a copper platter to wake his students. A problem with most clepsydrae was the variation in the flow of water due to the change in fluid pressure, which was addressed from 100 BC when the clock's water container was given a conical shape. They became more sophisticated when innovations such as gongs and moving mechanisms were included. There is strong evidence that the 1st century BC Tower of the Winds in Athens once had a water clock, and a wind vane, as well as the nine vertical sundials still visible on the outside. In Greek tradition, clepsydrae were used in court, a practise later adopted by the Ancient Romans. Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi in medieval Al-Andalus described a water clock that employed both segmental and epicyclic gearing. Islamic water clocks, which used complex gear trains and included arrays of automata, were unrivalled in their sophistication until the mid-14th century. Liquid-driven mechanisms (using heavy floats and a constant-head system)


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-3.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
The 12th-century Muslim inventor Al-Jazari described four different designs for a candle clock in his book Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. His so-called "scribe" candle clock was invented to mark the passing of 14 hours of equal length: a precisely engineered mechanism caused a candle of specific dimensions to be slowly pushed upwards, which caused an indicator to move along a scale. The hourglass was one of the few reliable methods of measuring time at sea, and it has been speculated that it was used on board ships as far back as the 11th century, when it would have complemented the compass as an aid to navigation. The earliest unambiguous evidence of the use of an hourglass appears in the painting Allegory of Good Government, by the Italian artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti, from 1338. The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan used 18 hourglasses on each ship during his circumnavigation of the globe in 1522. Though used in China, the hourglass's history there is unknown, but does not seem to have been used before the mid-16th century, as the hourglass implies the use of glassblowing, then an entirely European and Western art. From the 15th century onwards, hourglasses were used in


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-4.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
The invention of the verge and foliot escapement in c.1275 was one of the most important inventions in both the history of the clock and the history of technology. It was the first type of regulator in horology. A verge, or vertical shaft, is forced to rotate by a weight-driven crown wheel, but is stopped from rotating freely by a foliot. The foliot, which cannot vibrate freely, swings back and forth, which allows a wheel to rotate one tooth at a time. Although the verge and foliot was an advancement on previous timekeepers, it was impossible to avoid fluctuations in the beat caused by changes in the applied forces—the earliest mechanical clocks were regularly reset using a sundial. At around the same time as the invention of the escapement, the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri used clock imagery to depict the souls of the blessed in Paradiso, the third part of the Divine Comedy, written in the early part of the 14th century. It may be the first known literary description of a mechanical clock. There are references to house clocks from 1314 onwards; by 1325 the development of the mechanical clock can be assumed to have occurred. Large mechanical clocks


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-5.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
=== Pendulum clocks === The first accurate timekeepers depended on the phenomenon known as harmonic motion, in which the restoring force acting on an object moved away from its equilibrium position—such as a pendulum or an extended spring—acts to return the object to that position, and causes it to oscillate. Harmonic oscillators can be used as accurate timekeepers as the period of oscillation does not depend on the amplitude of the motion—and so it always takes the same time to complete one oscillation. The period of a harmonic oscillator is completely dependent on the physical characteristics of the oscillating system and not the starting conditions or the amplitude. The period when clocks were controlled by harmonic oscillators was the most productive era in timekeeping. The first invention of this type was the pendulum clock, which was designed and built by Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens in 1656. Early versions erred by less than one minute per day, and later ones only by 10 seconds, very accurate for their time. Dials that showed minutes and seconds became common after the increase in accuracy made possible by the pendulum clock. Brahe used clocks with minutes and seconds to observe stellar positions. The pendulum


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-6.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
=== Marine chronometer === After the Scilly naval disaster of 1707, in which four ships were wrecked as a result of navigational mistakes, the British government offered a prize of £20,000, equivalent to millions of pounds today, for anyone who could determine the longitude to within 50 kilometres (31 mi) at a latitude just north of the equator. The position of a ship at sea could be determined to within 100 kilometres (62 mi) if a navigator could refer to a clock that lost or gained less than about six seconds per day. Proposals were examined by a newly created Board of Longitude. Among the many people who attempted to claim the prize was the Yorkshire clockmaker Jeremy Thacker, who first used the term chronometer in a pamphlet published in 1714. Huygens built the first sea clock, designed to remain horizontal aboard a moving ship, but that stopped working if the ship moved suddenly. In 1715, at the age of 22, John Harrison had used his carpentry skills to construct a wooden eight-day clock. His clocks had innovations that included the use of wooden parts to remove the need for additional lubrication (and cleaning), rollers to reduce friction, a new


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-7.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
The first wristwatches were made in the 16th century. Elizabeth I of England had made an inventory in 1572 of the watches she acquired, all of which were considered to be part of her jewellery collection. The first pocketwatches were inaccurate, as their size precluded them from having sufficiently well-made moving parts. Unornamented watches began to appear in c. 1625. Dials that showed minutes and seconds became common after the increase in accuracy made possible by the balance spring (or hairspring). Invented separately in 1675 by Huygens and Hooke, it enabled the oscillations of the balance wheel to have a fixed frequency. The invention resulted in a great advance in the accuracy of the mechanical watch, from around half an hour to within a few minutes per day. Some dispute remains as to whether the balance spring was first invented by Huygens or by Hooke; both scientists claimed to have come up with the idea of the balance spring first. Huygens' design for the balance spring is the type used in virtually all watches up to the present day. Thomas Tompion was one of the first clockmakers to recognise the potential of the balance spring and use it successfully in


id: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices-8.md
category: reference
title: History of timekeeping devices
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_timekeeping_devices
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:22.439680+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-timekeeping-devices-20260505-0
summary:
Atomic clocks are the most accurate timekeeping devices in practical use today. Accurate to within a few seconds over many thousands of years, they are used to calibrate other clocks and timekeeping instruments. The U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS, now National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) changed the way it based the time standard of the United States from quartz to atomic clocks in the 1960s. The idea of using atomic transitions to measure time was first suggested by the British scientist Lord Kelvin in 1879, although it was only in the 1930s with the development of magnetic resonance that there was a practical method for measuring time in this way. A prototype ammonia maser device was built in 1948 at NIST. Although less accurate than existing quartz clocks, it served to prove the concept of an atomic clock. The first accurate atomic clock, a caesium standard based on a certain transition of the caesium-133 atom, was built by the English physicist Louis Essen in 1955 at the National Physical Laboratory in London. It was calibrated by the use of the astronomical time scale ephemeris time (ET). In 1967 the International System of Units (SI) standardized its unit


id: timeline-of-temperature-and-pressure-measurement-technology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_temperature_and_pressure_measurement_technology-0.md
category: reference
title: Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_temperature_and_pressure_measurement_technology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:23.695180+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: timeline-of-temperature-and-pressure-measurement-technology-20260505-0
summary:
This is a timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology or the history of temperature measurement and pressure measurement technology. == Timeline == === 1500s === 1592–1593 — Galileo Galilei builds a device showing variation of hotness known as the thermoscope using the contraction of air to draw water up a tube. === 1600s === 1612 — Santorio Sanctorius makes the first thermometer for medical use. 1617 — Giuseppe Biancani published the first clear diagram of a thermoscope 1624 — The word thermometer (in its French form) first appeared in La Récréation Mathématique by Jean Leurechon, who describes one with a scale of 8 degrees. 1629 — Joseph Solomon Delmedigo describes in a book an accurate sealed-glass thermometer that uses brandy 1638 — Robert Fludd the first thermoscope showing a scale and thus constituting a thermometer. 1643 — Evangelista Torricelli invents the mercury barometer 1654 — Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, made sealed tubes part filled with alcohol, with a bulb and stem, the first modern-style thermometer, depending on the expansion of a liquid, and independent of air pressure 1669 — Honoré Fabri suggested using a temperature scale by dividing into 8 equal parts the interval between


id: history-of-watches-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches-0.md
category: reference
title: History of watches
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:26.101091+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-watches-20260505-0
summary:
The history of watches began in 16th-century Europe, where watches evolved from portable spring-driven clocks, which first appeared in the 15th century. The watch was developed by inventors and engineers from the 16th century to the mid-20th century as a mechanical device, powered by winding a mainspring which turned gears and then moved the hands; it kept time with a rotating balance wheel. In the 1960s the invention of the quartz watch which ran on electricity and kept time with a vibrating quartz crystal, proved a radical departure for the watchmaking industry. During the 1980s quartz watches took over the market from mechanical watches, a process referred to as the "quartz crisis". Although mechanical watches still sell in the watch market, the vast majority of watches as of 2020 have quartz movements. One account of the origin of the word "watch" suggests that it came from the Old English word woecce which meant "watchman", because town watchmen used watches to keep track of their shifts. Another theory surmises that the term came from 17th-century sailors, who used the new mechanisms to time the length of their shipboard watches (duty shifts). The Oxford English Dictionary records the word watch in association


id: history-of-watches-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches-1.md
category: reference
title: History of watches
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:26.101091+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-watches-20260505-0
summary:
== Pocket watch == Styles changed in the 17th century and men began to wear watches in pockets instead of as pendants (the woman's watch remained a pendant into the 20th century). This is said to have occurred in 1675 when Charles II of England introduced waistcoats. This was not just a matter of fashion or prejudice; watches of the time were notoriously prone to fouling from exposure to the elements, and could only reliably be kept safe from harm if carried securely in the pocket. To fit in pockets, their shape evolved into the typical pocket watch shape, rounded and flattened with no sharp edges. Glass was used to cover the face beginning around 1610. Watch fobs began to be used, the name originating from the German word fuppe, a pocket. Later in the 1800s Prince Albert, the consort to Queen Victoria, introduced the 'Albert chain' accessory, designed to secure the pocket watch to the man's outergarment by way of a clip. The watch was wound and also set by opening the back and fitting a key to a square arbor, and turning it. The timekeeping mechanism in these early pocket watches was the same one used in clocks,


id: history-of-watches-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches-2.md
category: reference
title: History of watches
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:26.101091+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-watches-20260505-0
summary:
The lever escapement, invented by Thomas Mudge in 1754 and improved by Josiah Emery in 1785, gradually came into use from about 1800 onwards, chiefly in Britain; it was also adopted by Abraham-Louis Breguet, but Swiss watchmakers (who by now were the chief suppliers of watches to most of Europe) mostly adhered to the cylinder until the 1860s. By about 1900, however, the lever was used in almost every watch made. In this escapement the escape wheel pushed on a T-shaped 'lever', which was unlocked as the balance wheel swung through its centre position and gave the wheel a brief push before releasing it. The advantages of the lever was that it allowed the balance wheel to swing completely free during most of its cycle; due to 'locking' and 'draw' its action was very precise; and it was self-starting, so if the balance wheel was stopped by a jar it would start again. Jewel bearings, introduced in England in 1702 by the Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, also came into use for quality watches during this period. Watches of this period are characterised by their thinness. New innovations, such as the cylinder and lever escapements, allowed watches to become


id: history-of-watches-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches-3.md
category: reference
title: History of watches
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:26.101091+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-watches-20260505-0
summary:
From the beginning, wristwatches were almost exclusively worn by women, while men used pocket watches up until the early 20th century. The concept of the wristwatch goes back to the production of the very earliest watches in the 16th century. Some people say the world's first wristwatch was created by Abraham-Louis Breguet for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810. By the mid nineteenth century, most watchmakers produced a range of wristwatches, often marketed as bracelets, for women. Founded in 1832, Longines was the world's first watch trademark and the first Swiss company to assemble watches under one roof. Wristwatches were first worn by military men towards the end of the nineteenth century, when the importance of synchronizing maneuvers during war without potentially revealing the plan to the enemy through signaling was increasingly recognized. It was clear that using pocket watches while in the heat of battle or while mounted on a horse was impractical, so officers began to strap the watches to their wrist. The Garstin Company of London patented a 'Watch Wristlet' design in 1893, although they were probably producing similar designs from the 1880s. Officers in the British Army began using wristwatches during colonial military campaigns in


id: history-of-watches-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches-4.md
category: reference
title: History of watches
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:26.101091+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-watches-20260505-0
summary:
The first quartz watch to enter production was the Seiko 35 SQ Astron, which hit the shelves on 25 December 1969, which was the world's most accurate wristwatch to date. Since the technology having been developed by contributions from Japanese, American and Swiss, nobody could patent the whole movement of the quartz wristwatch, thus allowing other manufacturers to participate in the rapid growth and development of the quartz watch market. This ended — in less than a decade — almost 100 years of dominance by the mechanical wristwatch. The introduction of the quartz watch in 1969 was a revolutionary improvement in watch technology. In place of a balance wheel which oscillated at 5 beats per second, it used a quartz crystal resonator which vibrated at 8,192 Hz, driven by a battery-powered oscillator circuit. In place of a wheel train to add up the beats into seconds, minutes, and hours, it used digital counters. The higher Q factor of the resonator, along with quartz's low temperature coefficient, resulted in better accuracy than the best mechanical watches, while the elimination of all moving parts made the watch more shock-resistant and eliminated the need for periodic cleaning. The first digital electronic watch with


id: history-of-watches-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches-5.md
category: reference
title: History of watches
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_watches
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:26.101091+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-watches-20260505-0
summary:
A smartwatch is a computer worn on the wrist, a wireless digital device that may have the capabilities of a cellphone, portable music player, or a personal digital assistant. By the early 2010s some had the general capabilities of a smartphone, having a processor with a mobile operating system capable of running a variety of mobile apps. The first smartwatch was the Linux Watch, developed in 1998 by Steve Mann which he presented on February 7, 2000. Seiko launched the Ruputer in Japan- it was a wristwatch computer and it had a 3.6 MHz processor. In 1999, Samsung launched the world's first watch phone. It was named the SPH-WP10. It had a built-in speaker and mic, a protruding antenna and a monochrome LCD screen and 90 minutes of talk time. IBM made a prototype of a wristwatch that was running the Linux operating system. The first version had 6 hours battery life and it got extended to 12 in its more advanced version. It was improved by IBM with an accelerometer, a vibrating mechanism and a fingerprint sensor. IBM joined with Citizen Watch Co. to create the WatchPad. It featured a 320x240 QVGA monochrome touch-sensitive display and it ran Linux


id: basque-museum-of-the-history-of-medicine-and-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Museum_of_the_History_of_Medicine_and_Science-0.md
category: reference
title: Basque Museum of the History of Medicine and Science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Museum_of_the_History_of_Medicine_and_Science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:27.636207+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: basque-museum-of-the-history-of-medicine-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
The Basque Museum of the History of Medicine (MHM, Basque: Medikuntza Historiaren Euskal Museoa, Spanish: Museo Vasco de Historia de la Medicina) was founded in 1982 to preserve and conserve the historic memory of medicine and scientific heritage of Basque Country. The Museum is located on the university campus of Leioa (University of the Basque Country) and is important in student training in the Faculty of Medicine and other faculties and schools. Its director is Anton Erkoreka. Its permanent exhibition comprises approximately 6,000 medical objects of the 19th and 20th centuries, thematically arranged in 24 rooms devoted to different medical specialties: folk medicine, unconventional medicine, pharmacy, weights and measures, asepsis and antisepsis, microscopes, laboratory material, X-rays, obstetrics and gynaecology, surgery, anesthesia, endoscope, odontology, cardiology, ophthalmology, electrotherapy, pathological anatomy and natural sciences. It also holds virtual exhibitions. Teaching and research constitute the two pillars of the Museum, complemented with publications, the organization of conferences, lectures, and other activities. == References == == External links == Basque Museum of the History of Medicine and Science The museum in the bulletin of the European Association of Museums of the History of Medical Sciences Virtual exhibition about electrotherapy Virtual exhibition about Stultifera navis. The


id: mus-e-curie-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_Curie-0.md
category: reference
title: Musée Curie
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_Curie
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:28.790847+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mus-e-curie-20260505-0
summary:
The Musée Curie (French pronunciation: [myze kyʁi], Curie Museum) is a historical museum focusing on radiological research. It is located in the 5th arrondissement at 1, rue Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, and open Wednesday to Saturday, from 1pm to 5pm; admission is free. The museum was renovated in 2012, thanks to a donation from Ève Curie. == History == In 1914, the laboratory was directed by Marie Curie. The museum was established in 1934, after Curie's death, on the ground floor of the Curie Pavilion of the Institut du Radium. It was formerly Marie Curie's laboratory, built 1911–1914, and where she performed research from 1914 to 1934. In this laboratory her daughter and son-in-law Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie discovered artificial radioactivity, for which they received the 1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Irène Joliot-Curie died in 1956, Frédéric Joliot-Curie in 1958. The office and the laboratory are closed to be kept as a place of memory. In 1964, during the thirtieth anniversary of the discovery of artificial radioactivity, display cases were set up to present some of the devices used until the 1930s. In 1967, for the centenary of the birth of Marie Curie, her office and her personal


id: domus-galilaeana-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domus_Galilaeana-0.md
category: reference
title: Domus Galilaeana
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domus_Galilaeana
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:29.933385+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: domus-galilaeana-20260505-0
summary:
The Domus Galilaeana is a cultural and scientific institute and library, dedicated to the history of science, located in via Santa Maria #26, in Pisa, region of Tuscany, Italy. Currently, the Domus Galilaeana houses a library with more than 40,000 books and important files relating to scientists of the 20th century. == History == The idea of creating an institute dedicated to the Pisan scientist was born in 1938 in anticipation of the celebrations for the centenary of the First Meeting of Italian scientists held in Pisa in 1839. The institute’s formation was the initiative of Giovanni Gentile and sponsored by the Italian Society for the Progress of Sciences, and was established in Rome with a commission to identify goals and objectives of the new society, as well as the city and its location within the city. The choice fell on Pisa. The presentation was made in 1939 in the Aula Magna of the University of Pisa. The Domus Galilaeana received its legal status with the law of 1941. Since then, the establishment has collected all the ancient and modern publications on Galileo and coordinated studies in the history of science, thanks to a large archive and a major library.


id: mus-e-fragonard-d-alfort-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_Fragonard_d'Alfort-0.md
category: reference
title: Musée Fragonard d'Alfort
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_Fragonard_d'Alfort
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:31.077945+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mus-e-fragonard-d-alfort-20260505-0
summary:
The Musée Fragonard d'Alfort, often simply the Musée Fragonard, is a museum of anatomical oddities located within the École Nationale Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort, 7 avenue du Général de Gaulle, in Maisons-Alfort, a suburb of Paris. It is open several days per week in the cooler months; an admission fee is charged. == Collections == The École Nationale Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort is one of the world's oldest veterinary schools, and the museum, created in 1766 with the school, is among France's oldest. The museum attracted incredible international attention since the school's founding and was a critical component of the school's identity in the eighteenth century. It opened to the public in 1991, and today consists of three rooms containing a large collection of anatomical oddities and dissections, most of which date from the 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to animal skeletons and dissections, such as a piglet displayed in cross-section, the museum contains a substantial collection of monstrosities (teratology) including Siamese twin lambs, a two-headed calf, a 10-legged sheep, and a colt with one huge eye. The museum's most astonishing items are the famous "écorchés" (flayed figures) prepared by Honoré Fragonard, the school's first professor of anatomy, appointed in


id: mus-e-d-histoire-des-sciences-de-la-ville-de-gen-ve-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_d'histoire_des_sciences_de_la_Ville_de_Genève-0.md
category: reference
title: Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_d'histoire_des_sciences_de_la_Ville_de_Genève
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:32.243804+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mus-e-d-histoire-des-sciences-de-la-ville-de-gen-ve-20260505-0
summary:
The Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève (Museum of the History of Science of the City of Geneva) is a small museum in Switzerland dedicated to the history of science. == Location == The museum is located in the Villa Bartholoni, designed by Félix-Emmanuel Callet, built in 1830 as a summer residence for Parisian bankers, Constant and Jean-François Bartholoni and extensively restored between 1985 and 1992. It is situated in the park La Perle du Lac, overlooking Lake Geneva, adjacent to the Geneva Botanical Garden. Both the Villa and the museum itself are listed in the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance. == Access == The Museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm, except for 25 December and 1 January and admission is free. The museum receives over 250,000 visitors per year. == History == The museum was established in 1964 by the enthusiasm of l'Association du Musée et de la Revue d'histoire des sciences (the Museum and review of the History of Science Association), following an exhibition of science history at the Musée Rath. Once opened the Swiss Institute of Physics and Observatory donated their historic instruments to the collection. Early


id: history-of-science-museum-oxford-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Science_Museum,_Oxford-0.md
category: reference
title: History of Science Museum, Oxford
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Science_Museum,_Oxford
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:33.426666+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-science-museum-oxford-20260505-0
summary:
The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from the newer Ashmolean Museum building completed in 1894. The museum was built in 1683, and it is the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum. == History == Built in 1683 to house Elias Ashmole's collection, the building was the world's first purpose-built museum building and was also open to the public. The original concept of the museum was to institutionalize the new learning about nature that appeared in the 17th century and experiments concerning natural philosophy were undertaken in a chemical laboratory in the basement, while lectures and demonstration took place in the School of Natural History, on the middle floor. Ashmole's collection was expanded to include a broad range of activities associated with the history of natural knowledge. In 1924, Lewis Evans donated his collection of historic scientific instruments, creating the Lewis Evans Collection. In 1935, with more donations, the museum's name was changed to the Museum of the History of Science. In 2018, the museum was renamed the History of


id: koninklijke-hollandsche-maatschappij-der-wetenschappen-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koninklijke_Hollandsche_Maatschappij_der_Wetenschappen-0.md
category: reference
title: Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koninklijke_Hollandsche_Maatschappij_der_Wetenschappen
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:34.624451+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: koninklijke-hollandsche-maatschappij-der-wetenschappen-20260505-0
summary:
The Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities), located on the east side of the Spaarne in downtown Haarlem, Netherlands, was established in 1752 and is the oldest society for the sciences in the country. The society has been housed in its present location, called Hodshon Huis, since 1841. Nearby the society is the Teylers Museum, a closely related museum of natural history founded in 1784. In 2002, the society was awarded the predicate "Royal" when it celebrated 250 years of science studies. == History of the society and museum == The society started as a gentleman's club that met in the Haarlem City Hall to discuss science topics and promote the study of the arts and sciences. They pooled resources to purchase books and specimens for study, which were kept in the town hall until they purchased a building on the Grote Houtstraat (nr. 51, since unrecognizably rebuilt), where the curator of the collection lived. Under the direction of Martin van Marum, a proper museum was established with zoological specimens located there on display for the public, as a forerunner of the modern Naturalis in Leiden. Van Marum also kept a small garden for


id: lisbon-astronomical-observatory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon_Astronomical_Observatory-0.md
category: reference
title: Lisbon Astronomical Observatory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon_Astronomical_Observatory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:35.796263+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lisbon-astronomical-observatory-20260505-0
summary:
The Lisbon Astronomical Observatory (Portuguese: Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa) is an astronomical observatory located in Tapada da Ajuda, in the civil parish of Alcântara, municipality of Lisbon. Recognized internationally for its quality of work in the field of positional astronomy (since the 19th century), in 1992, it became a dependency of the University of Lisbon (and later, part of the Faculty of Sciences), responsible for scientific and historical research, along with media relations. == History == From an 1812 map, there existed in the Alto da Casa Branca in the Tapada of Ajuda an older observatory. The observatory was born from great controversy between French astronomer Hervé Faye (1814-1902), then director of the Observatory of Paris, and Peters, an astronomer at the Russian Observatory of Pulkova, on the parallax of the star of Argelander. The construction of the Lisbon observatory was due to a strong desire to build an institution that was a reference in Portuguese culture. It was established in the mid-19th century with the aim of promoting new Sidereal Astronomy, discovery and understanding of the infinite cosmos, and concern about the exact mapping of the sky and measuring the size of the universe. In 1850, Hervé Faye and


id: lisbon-astronomical-observatory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon_Astronomical_Observatory-1.md
category: reference
title: Lisbon Astronomical Observatory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon_Astronomical_Observatory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:35.796263+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lisbon-astronomical-observatory-20260505-0
summary:
== Architecture == The Lisbon Astronomical Observatory consists of a central building in the hills of Ajuda and overlooking the Tejo river, and two small cupolas in the south containing instruments. Besides the central cupola there are three rooms for astronomical observations, equipped with instruments (the best for the time) and windows for observation. The central block of the observatory (a circular room) supports the weight of the large equatorial refractor over 8 large columns. In arches between the columns are many pendulum clock used over the century to measure the time. At the foot of the large windows (with a view over the Tapada da Ajuda) are wide tables, used by astronomers to assist in their research/investigation. In addition, there are spacious halls linking the central block, used for lessons, taking measurements and research, today used as workshops and support school educational activities. The three observation rooms are spacious and high, lined in wood, with open space between the wainscoting and the walls of masonry and roofing. This space communicates with the outside world through gaps that are constantly open. There are roofs of rooms in stacks of circulation, and this permanent ventilation is there in order to establish


id: mus-e-d-art-dentaire-pierre-fauchard-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_d'Art_Dentaire_Pierre_Fauchard-0.md
category: reference
title: Musée d'Art Dentaire Pierre Fauchard
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_d'Art_Dentaire_Pierre_Fauchard
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:36.985648+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mus-e-d-art-dentaire-pierre-fauchard-20260505-0
summary:
The Musée d'Art Dentaire Pierre Fauchard (French pronunciation: [myze daʁ dɑ̃tɛʁ pjɛʁ foʃaʁ]) is a museum of dental history located in the 16th arrondissement at the Académie Nationale de Chirurgie Dentaire, 22 Rue Émile Ménier, Paris, France. It is open Wednesday afternoons by appointment. The nearest métro and RER stations are Porte Dauphine, Avenue Foch, and Victor Hugo. The museum dates to 1879, when Parisian dentists began to organize a dental school; with it the Musée d'Art Dentaire was established to display old techniques and tools. By 1892, its collection contained around 300 items. In 1937, the museum was renamed the Musée Pierre Fauchard to honor Pierre Fauchard (1678–1761), sometimes called the father of modern dentistry. Since 2003, its collections have been maintained by the Musée de l'Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris. Today the museum contains over 1,000 items relating to the history of dentistry, including instruments and dental chairs from the seventeenth century to nineteenth century, about 350 items for the cleaning and extraction of teeth, about 200 dental prosthetics, as well as etchings, paintings from the seventeenth century Dutch School, and a library of about 500 antique books including an original edition of Fauchard's "Le Chirurgien Dentiste",


id: mus-e-de-l-assistance-publique-h-pitaux-de-paris-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_de_l'Assistance_Publique_–_Hôpitaux_de_Paris-0.md
category: reference
title: Musée de l'Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_de_l'Assistance_Publique_–_Hôpitaux_de_Paris
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:38.181158+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mus-e-de-l-assistance-publique-h-pitaux-de-paris-20260505-0
summary:
The Musée de l'Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (French pronunciation: [myze də lasistɑ̃s pyblik opito də paʁi], Museum of Public Assistance–Paris Hospitals) is a museum dedicated to the history of Parisian hospitals. It is located on the left bank of the Seine in the 5th arrondissement, at 47, quai de la Tournelle, Paris, France. The museum closed in 2012 and is evaluating reopening. The nearest Paris Métro station is Maubert-Mutualité on Line 10. The museum was housed in the Hôtel de Miramion, attributed to architect François Mansart, which was built as a private mansion for Christopher Martin in about 1630. The building became a Catholic school for girls from 1675 to 1794, then, during the First Empire, it was converted into the central pharmacy for hospitals in Paris, which operated from 1812 until 1974. The museum was established in 1934 by the municipal authority, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris. The museum contained a broad collection of nearly 10,000 objects related to the history of Parisian hospitals from the Middle Ages to the present day. Objects held include French and Flemish paintings, furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries, a major collection of pharmaceutical faiences, textiles, and medical instruments.


id: mus-e-des-lunettes-et-lorgnettes-pierre-marly-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_des_Lunettes_et_Lorgnettes_Pierre_Marly-0.md
category: reference
title: Musée des Lunettes et Lorgnettes Pierre Marly
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musée_des_Lunettes_et_Lorgnettes_Pierre_Marly
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:39.307431+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mus-e-des-lunettes-et-lorgnettes-pierre-marly-20260505-0
summary:
The Musée de la Lunette is a museum of eyeglasses located in Morez (Jura - Franche-Comté), France. It was formerly located in Paris, with the name Musée Pierre Marly - Lunettes et Lorgnettes. The museum was created by Pierre Marly, optician to crowned heads, public figures and celebrities. It contains almost 3,000 objects, ranging from spectacles dating from the 13th century to wooden Inuit snow goggles, with a permanent exhibition of lorgnettes, glasses, telescopes, and binoculars of all shapes and sizes. Items of interest include glasses made for cats and dogs, Maria Callas' contact lens, and glasses belonging to Princess Victoire of France (daughter of Louis XV), the Dalai Lama, Marlene Dietrich, Sammy Davis Jr., Elton John, and lorgnettes belonging to Sarah Bernhardt. == See also == Essilor – Scientific and technical heritage == References == Kristan Lawson and Anneli S. Rufus, Weird Europe: A Guide to Bizarre, Macabre, and Just Plain Weird Sights, Macmillan, 1999, page 67. ISBN 0-312-19873-6.


id: museo-galileo-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Galileo-0.md
category: reference
title: Museo Galileo
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Galileo
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:40.461113+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: museo-galileo-20260505-0
summary:
Museo Galileo (formerly Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza; Institute and Museum of the History of Science) is located in Florence, Italy, in Piazza dei Giudici, along the River Arno and close to the Uffizi Gallery. The museum, dedicated to astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei, is housed in Palazzo Castellani, an 11th-century building which was then known as the Castello d'Altafronte. Museo Galileo owns one of the world's major collection of scientific instruments, which bears evidence of the role that the Medici and Lorraine Grand Dukes attached to science and scientists. The Museo di Storia della Scienza re-opened to the public with the new name Museo Galileo in June 2010, after a two-year closure due to redesigning and renovation work. Its name change celebrates the 400-year anniversary of Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger), first published in March of 1610. == The museum == The museum features the valuable scientific instruments from the Medici Collections which were first displayed in the Stanzino delle Matematiche (Mathematics Room) in the Uffizi Gallery. They were later moved to the Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale (Museum of Physics and Natural History) founded by Grand Duke Peter Leopold in 1775. During the reign


id: museo-galileo-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Galileo-1.md
category: reference
title: Museo Galileo
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Galileo
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:40.461113+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: museo-galileo-20260505-0
summary:
== The library == The library, which has been a part of the institute since its foundation, was completely remodelled in 2002, when it was moved to the third floor of Palazzo Castellani. The new architectural display was awarded the “Bibliocom Biblioteche in vetrina” prize. The library houses about 150,000 works concerning the history of science. The antique book collection consists of nearly 5,000 works. It includes the Medici-Lorraine Collection, comprising scientific books mostly about physics and mathematics, gathered by Tuscan dynasties over five centuries. The library is also home to several 18th- to 20th-century archival collections and a photo archive related to the history of the museum's collections, ancient instruments and places of scientific interest. The contemporary collection includes books in Italian and the major European languages and has an annual growth of about 1,800 new acquisitions. All of the library's material can be searched in the online catalogue. Among the library's activities are the compiling of bibliographies –notably the International Galilaean Bibliography– and the cataloguing of documents relevant to the history of science, even those not in the library's possession. In 2004, a Digital Library was created to preserve and publish digital collections of historical scientific interest. ==


id: nikola-tesla-memorial-center-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_Memorial_Center-0.md
category: reference
title: Nikola Tesla Memorial Center
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla_Memorial_Center
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:41.637392+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nikola-tesla-memorial-center-20260505-0
summary:
The Nikola Tesla Memorial Center (Croatian: Memorijalni centar Nikola Tesla) is a cultural-historical site and museum located in Smiljan, Croatia, located at the birthplace of Nikola Tesla, one of the world's foremost engineers and inventors. It is dedicated to Tesla, who was born in 1856 in his Serb parents house in Smiljan, then part of the Kingdom of Croatia within the Austrian Empire. The young engineer later left his homeland to work in America. The Lika Museum in nearby Gospić administers the site. == History == The Memorial Center was opened to the public on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birthday, 10 July 2006, by the President of the Republic of Croatia. The original memorial site was first established as a museum in 1956, but it was damaged during the Croatian War of Independence when a projectile fell on the commercial building next to Nikola Tesla's house. The fire was eventually put out by the Croatian Army who deposited furniture and other objects it saved in the Museum of Lika. The Croatian authorities restored the complex and reopened it in a 2006 ceremony, with the highest dignitaries of Croatia and Serbia attending. After the war it was renovated, improved, equipped


id: pharmacy-museum-of-the-university-of-basel-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacy_Museum_of_the_University_of_Basel-0.md
category: reference
title: Pharmacy Museum of the University of Basel
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacy_Museum_of_the_University_of_Basel
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:44.027325+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pharmacy-museum-of-the-university-of-basel-20260505-0
summary:
The Pharmacy Museum of the University of Basel (Pharmaziemuseum der Universität Basel, formerly Pharmazie-Historisches Museum der Universität Basel, originally Sammlung für das historische Apothekenwesen) shows in its permanent collection the history of medicinal remedies and their preparation. Designed as a collection of specimens for study purposes, the museum was founded in 1924 by Josef Anton Häfliger (1873–1954) and has been preserved to this day in its original form as a 'scientific cabinet'. The museum is one of the largest and most significant collections of pharmaceutical objects and the history of pharmacy. It contains pharmaceutical ceramics, complete fixtures and fittings from historical pharmacies, an alchemical laboratory, mortars, historical first aid kits, books, medications used in the past, and everything related to the preparation of medicinal remedies. == History == »Zum Vorderen Sessel«, the building that houses the museum, is located in the historic centre of Basel, halfway between the market square and St Peter's Church. First mentioned in 1316 as the »Unter Krämern« bathhouse, it is rich in history. From 1480, the renowned printer Johannes Amerbach lived there; he was the ancestor of the famous academic Amerbach family. In 1507, the house was acquired by Johannes Frobenius, probably the most famous


id: pharmacy-museum-of-the-university-of-basel-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacy_Museum_of_the_University_of_Basel-1.md
category: reference
title: Pharmacy Museum of the University of Basel
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacy_Museum_of_the_University_of_Basel
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:44.027325+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pharmacy-museum-of-the-university-of-basel-20260505-0
summary:
== See also == Museums in Basel List of museums in Switzerland == Literature (in German) == Häfliger, Josef Anton: Pharmazeutische Altertumskunde und die Schweizerische Sammlung für historisches Apothekenwesen an der Universität Basel. Zurich 1931. Häfliger, Josef Anton: Das Apothekenwesen Basels. Basel 1938. Lutz, Alfons: Josef Anton Häfliger, der Begründer der pharmazeutischen Altertumskunde (1873-1954). In: Basler Jahrbuch 1956, S. 125–129. Lutz, Alfons, und Mez-Mangold, Lydia: Schweizerisches Pharmazie-Historisches Museum in Basel. Bern 1968 and 1974. Mez-Mangold Lydia: Aus der Geschichte des Medikaments. Basel 1972. Olonetzky, Beny, und Mez-Mangold, Lydia: Die Sammlung: Darstellung alter Arztinstrumente, Apotheker-Gefässe, Mikroskope, Einnehmelöffel, Terra sigillata, Amulette […]. Stuttgart 1980. Kessler, Michael, und Mez-Mangold, Lydia: Womit der Apotheker einst hantierte. Basel 1975 and 1990. Gugger, Beat, und Kessler, Michael: Revolution: Apothekerkunst und Industrieprozess. Basel 1996. Kessler, Michael, et al.: Strömung, Kraft und Nebenwirkung; Eine Geschichte der Basler Pharmazie. Basel 2002. Kessler, Michael, et al.: Leben am Totengässlein. Das Pharmazie-Historische Museum Basel im Haus "Zum Sessel". Basel 2002 and 2015. Kluge, Martin: Mit Kräutersud und Gottvertrauen. Basel 2008. == In-house publications (in German) == Kluge, Martin: Drachen in der Medizin. Reale Arznei aus irrealen Wesen. Exhibition catalogue; Basel 2005. Häner, Flavio, und Kessler, Michael: Lust, Leid und Wissen. Eine


id: polytechnic-museum-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytechnic_Museum-0.md
category: reference
title: Polytechnic Museum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytechnic_Museum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:45.213458+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polytechnic-museum-20260505-0
summary:
The Polytechnic Museum (Russian: Политехнический музей) is one of the oldest science museums in the world and is located in Moscow. It showcases Russian and Soviet technology and science, as well as modern inventions. It was founded in 1872 after the first All-Russian Technical Exhibition on the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great at the initiative of the Society of Devotees of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography. The first stage of the museum was designed by Ippolit Monighetti and completed in 1877. The north wing was added in 1896 and the south wing in 1907. The Polytechnic Museum is the largest technical museum in Russia, and houses a wide range of historical inventions and technological achievements, including humanoid automata of the 18th century, and the first Soviet computers. The collection contains over 160,000 items in 65 halls including, chemistry, mining, metallurgy, transport, energy, optics, automation, computer engineering, radio electronics, communications, and space exploration. Highlights include the first achromatic telescope; an early solar microscope by German anatomists Johann Nathanael Lieberkühn; an early seismograph by Boris Borisovich Galitzine; galvanoplastics by Moritz von Jacobi; and early electric lights by Pavel Yablochkov. == History == The Society of Devotees of Natural


id: science-history-institute-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_History_Institute-0.md
category: reference
title: Science History Institute
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_History_Institute
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:46.362005+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-history-institute-20260505-0
summary:
The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center. It was founded in 1982 as a joint venture of the American Chemical Society and the University of Pennsylvania, as the Center for the History of Chemistry (CHOC). The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) became a co-founder in 1984. It was renamed the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) in 1992, and moved two years later to the institution's current location, 315 Chestnut Street in Old City. On December 1, 2015, CHF merged with the Life Sciences Foundation, creating an organization that covers "the history of the life sciences and biotechnology together with the history of the chemical sciences and engineering." As of February 1, 2018, the organization was renamed the Science History Institute, to reflect its wider range of historical interests, from chemical sciences and engineering to the life sciences and biotechnology. The institute focuses on the history of chemistry, the history of science, the history of technology, trends in research and development, the impact of science on society, and relationships between science and art. It supports a


id: science-history-institute-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_History_Institute-1.md
category: reference
title: Science History Institute
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_History_Institute
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:46.362005+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-history-institute-20260505-0
summary:
==== Othmer Library of Chemical History ==== In 1989, the center received a further challenge grant, this time from Donald F. Othmer and his wife, Mildred Topp Othmer. Donald Othmer was a quiet chemical engineering professor from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. The Othmers donated $5 million towards the creation of the Othmer Library of Chemical History. Again, efforts to match the grant were supported by the National Foundation for History of Chemistry and the American Chemical Society's Campaign for Chemistry. The new library was further supported by the donation of 8,500 monographs, textbooks and reference works from The Chemists' Club of New York. === Chemical Heritage Foundation === On July 1, 1992, the National Foundation for History of Chemistry changed its name to the Chemical Heritage Foundation, in recognition of the international nature of chemical history. By 1994, the organization was searching for a permanent home for the Beckman Center and Othmer Library. One candidate was the First National Bank building at 315 Chestnut Street, an 1866 masonry-and-brick structure with a two-story Palazzo facade. The institution bought the bank building and nearby property in 1995, in part with a matching grant from Donald Othmer. Soon afterward, its endowment was expanded


id: science-history-institute-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_History_Institute-2.md
category: reference
title: Science History Institute
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_History_Institute
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:46.362005+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-history-institute-20260505-0
summary:
As early as 1996, the Chemical Heritage Foundation had envisioned a broadly-based museum of chemical progress in which instruments would have "a major, but not exclusive role". That vision was followed when Peter Saylor of Dagit•Saylor Architects created the public museum and conference space. The Arnold O. Beckman Permanent Exhibit and the Clifford C. Hach Gallery for rotating exhibitions opened in 2008. The Arnold O. Beckman permanent exhibition, Making Modernity, was designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. It has been described as an "art gallery for science", and showcases objects from the institution's widely varying collections. "The instruments are only a fraction of the objects on display. The exhibition also includes books, documents, and artwork from CHF's collection, as well as an array of consumer products." The exhibition is organized around thematic arcs illustrative of the history of science, particularly chemistry. Displays include the influence of alchemy in early chemistry, the development of the first plastics, the development of brilliantly colored synthetic dyes, scientific advocacy for public health in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the teaching of chemistry through books and chemistry sets. === Science History Institute === On December 1, 2015, the Chemical Heritage Foundation merged with the Life


id: science-history-institute-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_History_Institute-3.md
category: reference
title: Science History Institute
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_History_Institute
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:46.362005+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-history-institute-20260505-0
summary:
== Distillations == The Science History Institute's magazine, Distillations, appeared in print three times a year until 2019, when content became digital-only. As an online resource, it continues to present stories about the history of science for a popular readership. Distillations first appeared in spring 2015, as a publication of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. It was predated by the Chemical Heritage Magazine, published as a quarterly by the Chemical Heritage Foundation. == Fellowships == The Science History Institute offers many fellowships-in-residence, of varying lengths. == Awards == The Science History Institute presents a number of annual awards to recognize outstanding contributions to science and technology by researchers, business leaders and entrepreneurs. The annual Heritage Day Awards honor achievements in science and technology and comprise the Othmer Gold Medal, the Richard J. Bolte Sr. Award for Supporting Industries and, in conjunction with The Chemists' Club of New York, the Winthrop-Sears Medal. The annual Affiliate Partnership Awards, presented in conjunction with affiliate organizations, recognize achievement with the Biotechnology Heritage Award, the Franklin-Lavoisier Prize, the Petrochemical Heritage Award and the Pittcon Heritage Award. The Roy G. Neville Prize in Bibliography or Biography recognizes a biographical work in the field of chemical or molecular


id: teylers-museum-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teylers_Museum-0.md
category: reference
title: Teylers Museum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teylers_Museum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:47.568078+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: teylers-museum-20260505-0
summary:
Teylers Museum (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈtɛilərs myˈzeːjʏm]) is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval Room (1784), which was built behind the house of Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (1702–1778), the so-called Fundatiehuis (Foundation House). Pieter Teyler was a wealthy cloth merchant and banker of Scottish descent, who bequeathed his fortune for the advancement of religion, art, and science. He was a Mennonite and follower of the Scottish Enlightenment. == History == In his will, Pieter Teyler stipulated that his collection and part of his fortune should be used to establish a foundation for their promotion: Teylers Stichting. The Teyler legacy to the city of Haarlem was split into two societies: Teylers First or Theological Society (Dutch: Teylers Eerste of Godgeleerd Genootschap), intended for the study of religion and Teylers Second Society (Dutch: Teylers Tweede Genootschap), which was to concern itself with physics, poetry, history, drawing, and numismatics. The executors of Teyler's will, the first directors of Teylers Stichting, decided to establish a centre for study and education. Under a single roof, it


id: teylers-museum-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teylers_Museum-1.md
category: reference
title: Teylers Museum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teylers_Museum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:47.568078+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: teylers-museum-20260505-0
summary:
== Heritage site == The museum is on the top 100 Dutch heritage sites list compiled by the Department for Conservation in 1990. It was nominated on 12 December 2011 by the Dutch Cabinet for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, based on its long history as a public knowledge institute and its continued efforts to preserve public access to its collections. However, the nomination was withdrawn in 2013. == Administration == Since 1 January 2022, Marc de Beyer is the museum director. The former director is Marjan Scharloo. Terry van Druten is curator of the art collections of the museum, Trienke van der Spek is curator of the scientific collections, including fossils, minerals and the library. The museum had 137,000 visitors in 2019. Teylers Museum is a member of the Museumvereniging (Museum Association). == See also == Teylers Hofje – related site Jaap van der Veen/Teylers Museum Prize for the Contemporary Art Medal - prize Tiberius Cornelis Winkler – curator Hendrik Jacobus Scholten – curator Gerrit Jan Michaëlis – curator Vincent Jansz van der Vinne – first caretaker Highgrove Florilegium – book in the collection == References == == Further reading == M. Scharloo (ed.), Teylers Museum: A Journey in


id: whipple-museum-of-the-history-of-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipple_Museum_of_the_History_of_Science-0.md
category: reference
title: Whipple Museum of the History of Science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipple_Museum_of_the_History_of_Science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:48.732198+00:00
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parent: whipple-museum-of-the-history-of-science-20260505-0
summary:
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science is a museum attached to the University of Cambridge, England, which houses an extensive collection of scientific instruments, apparatus, models, pictures, prints, photographs, books and other material related to the history of science. It is located in the former Perse School on Free School Lane, Cambridge. The museum was founded in 1944, when Robert Whipple presented his collection of scientific instruments to the University of Cambridge. The museum's collection was 'designated' by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) as being of "national and international importance". The museum is one of eight museums in the University of Cambridge Museums consortium. == Department of History and Philosophy of Science == The museum forms part of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. The department includes a working library with a large collection of early scientific books, some of which were given by Robert Whipple, chairman of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company. The museum plays an important part in the department's teaching and research. == Collections == The museum's holdings are particularly strong in material dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries, especially objects produced by English instrument makers,


id: natural-philosophy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy-0.md
category: reference
title: Natural philosophy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:50.253479+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: natural-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
Natural philosophy, philosophy of nature (from Latin philosophia naturalis), or experimental philosophy, until the late modern period, was the systematic and research-based study of nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. Used since at least Aristotle (classical antiquity) until the 19th century, the term natural philosophy referred to a branch of philosophy—a broader term then, meaning all rational fields of study and contemplation—that explored topics now considered to fall under the purview of science, such as physics, biology, chemistry, and astronomy. Thus, natural philosophy served as the precursor to, and has been mostly supplanted by, modern science. The 19th century established the term science as distinct from philosophy in its rigorously empirical and experimental approach, along with its many modern sub-disciplines, plus the founding of various institutions and communities devoted to them. Isaac Newton's book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) (English: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) reflects the use of the term natural philosophy in the 17th century. Even in the 19th century, the work that helped define much of modern physics bore the title Treatise on Natural Philosophy (1867), authored by Lord Kelvin and Tait. In the German tradition, Naturphilosophie (philosophy of nature) persisted into the


id: natural-philosophy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy-1.md
category: reference
title: Natural philosophy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:50.253479+00:00
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parent: natural-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
Humankind's mental engagement with nature certainly predates civilization and the record of history. Philosophical, and specifically non-religious, thought about the natural world goes back to ancient Greece. These lines of thought began before Socrates, who turned his philosophical studies from speculations about nature to a consideration of man, or in other words, political philosophy. The thought of early philosophers such as Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Democritus centered on the natural world. In addition, three Presocratic philosophers who lived in the Ionian town of Miletus (hence the Milesian School of philosophy), Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes, attempted to explain natural phenomena without recourse to creation myths involving the Greek gods. They were called the physikoi ("natural philosophers") or, as Aristotle referred to them, the physiologoi. Plato followed Socrates in concentrating on man. It was Plato's student, Aristotle, who, in basing his thought on the natural world, returned empiricism to its primary place, while leaving room in the world for man. Martin Heidegger observes that Aristotle was the originator of conception of nature that prevailed in the Middle Ages into the modern era: The Physics is a lecture in which he seeks to determine beings that arise on their own, τὰ φύσει ὄντα (ta


id: natural-philosophy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy-2.md
category: reference
title: Natural philosophy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:50.253479+00:00
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parent: natural-philosophy-20260505-0
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=== In ancient Greece === Early Greek philosophers studied motion and the cosmos. Figures like Hesiod regarded the natural world as offspring of the gods, whereas others like Leucippus and Democritus regarded the world as lifeless atoms in a vortex. Anaximander deduced that eclipses happen because of apertures in rings of celestial fire. Heraclitus believed that the heavenly bodies were made of fire that were contained within bowls. He thought that eclipses happen when the bowl turned away from the earth. Anaximenes is believed to have stated that an underlying element was air, and by manipulating air someone could change its thickness to create fire, water, dirt, and stones. Empedocles identified the elements that make up the world, which he termed the roots of all things, as fire, air, earth, and water. Parmenides argued that all change is a logical impossibility. He gives the example that nothing can go from nonexistence to existence. Plato argues that the world is an imperfect replica of an idea that a divine craftsman once held. He also believed that the only way to truly know something was through reason and logic. Not the study of the object itself, but that changeable matter is a


id: natural-philosophy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy-3.md
category: reference
title: Natural philosophy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:50.253479+00:00
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parent: natural-philosophy-20260505-0
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=== Natural philosophy in the early modern period === The scientific method has ancient precedents, and Galileo exemplifies a mathematical understanding of nature, which is a hallmark of modern natural scientists. Galileo proposed that objects falling regardless of their mass would fall at the same rate, as long as the medium they fall in is identical. The 19th-century distinction of a scientific enterprise apart from traditional natural philosophy has its roots in prior centuries. Proposals for a more "inquisitive" and practical approach to the study of nature are notable in Francis Bacon, whose ardent convictions did much to popularize his insightful Baconian method. The Baconian method is employed throughout Thomas Browne's encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646–1672), which debunks a wide range of common fallacies through empirical investigation of nature. The late-17th-century natural philosopher Robert Boyle wrote a seminal work on the distinction between physics and metaphysics called, A Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature, as well as The Skeptical Chymist, after which the modern science of chemistry is named, (as distinct from proto-scientific studies of alchemy). These works of natural philosophy are representative of a departure from the medieval scholasticism taught in European universities, and anticipate in many


id: natural-philosophy-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy-4.md
category: reference
title: Natural philosophy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:50.253479+00:00
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parent: natural-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
Environmental philosophy – Branch of philosophy Gentleman scientist – Financially independent scientistPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets History of science Natural environment – Living and non-living things on Earth Natural theology – Theology reliant on rational and empirical arguments Naturalism (philosophy) – Belief that only natural laws and forces operate in the universe Nature (philosophy) – Philosophical term Protoscience – Research field that may become a science == References == == Further reading == Adler, Mortimer J. (1993). The Four Dimensions of Philosophy: Metaphysical, Moral, Objective, Categorical. Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-500574-X. E.A. Burtt, Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1954). Philip Kitcher, Science, Truth, and Democracy. Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Science. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. LCCN:2001036144 ISBN 0-19-514583-6 Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy and Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (1945) Simon & Schuster, 1972. Santayana, George (1923). Scepticism and Animal Faith. Dover Publications. pp. 27–41. ISBN 0-486-20236-4. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) David Snoke, Natural Philosophy: A Survey of Physics and Western Thought. Access Research Network, 2003. ISBN 1-931796-25-4.Natural Philosophy: A Survey of Physics and Western Thought


id: alchemy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-0.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
Alchemy (from the Arabic word al-kīmīā, الكیمیاء) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD. Greek-speaking alchemists often referred to their craft as "the Art" (τέχνη) or "Knowledge" (ἐπιστήμη), and it was often characterised as mystic (μυστική), sacred (ἱɛρά), or divine (θɛíα). Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials. Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold); the creation of an elixir of immortality; and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease. The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical magnum opus ("Great Work"). The concept of creating the philosopher's stone was variously connected with all of these projects. Islamic and European alchemists developed a basic set of laboratory techniques, theories, and terms, some of which are still in use today. They did not abandon the Ancient Greek philosophical idea that everything is composed of four elements, and they tended to


id: alchemy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-1.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
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parent: alchemy-20260505-0
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The start of Western alchemy may generally be traced to Hellenistic Egypt, where the city of Alexandria was a center of alchemical knowledge, and retained its pre-eminence through most of the Greek and Roman periods. Following the work of André-Jean Festugière, modern scholars see alchemical practice in the Roman Empire as originating from the Egyptian goldsmith's art, Greek philosophy and different religious traditions. Tracing the origins of the alchemical art in Egypt is complicated by the pseudepigraphic nature of texts from the Greek alchemical corpus. The treatises of Zosimos of Panopolis, the earliest historically attested author (fl. c. 300), can help in situating the other authors. Zosimus based his work on that of older alchemical authors, such as Mary the Jewess, Pseudo-Democritus, and Agathodaimon, but very little is known about any of these authors. The most complete of their works, the Four Books of Pseudo-Democritus, were probably written in the first century AD. Recent scholarship tends to emphasize the testimony of Zosimus, who traced the alchemical arts back to Egyptian metallurgical and ceremonial practices. It has also been argued that early alchemical writers borrowed the vocabulary of Greek philosophical schools but did not implement any of its doctrines in a


id: alchemy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-2.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
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parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
True alchemy never regarded earth, air, water, and fire as corporeal or chemical substances in the present-day sense of the word. The four elements are simply the primary, and most general, qualities by means of which the amorphous and purely quantitative substance of all bodies first reveals itself in differentiated form." Later alchemists extensively developed the mystical aspects of this concept. Alchemy coexisted alongside emerging Christianity. Lactantius believed Hermes Trismegistus had prophesied its birth. Augustine of Hippo later affirmed this in the 4th and 5th centuries, but also condemned Trismegistus for idolatry. Examples of pagan, Christian, and Jewish alchemists can be found during this period. Most of the Greco-Roman alchemists preceding Zosimos are known only by pseudonyms, such as Moses of Alexandria, Isis, Cleopatra the Alchemist, Pseudo-Democritus, and Ostanes. Other authors such as Komarios and Chymes are known only through surviving fragments of text. After AD 400, Greek alchemical writers occupied themselves solely in commenting on the works of these predecessors. By the middle of the 7th century, alchemy was almost an entirely mystical discipline. It was at that time that Khalid Ibn Yazid sparked its migration from Alexandria to the Islamic world, facilitating the translation and preservation of Greek


id: alchemy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-3.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
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parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
To form an idea of the historical place of Jabir's alchemy and to tackle the problem of its sources, it is advisable to compare it with what remains to us of the alchemical literature in the Greek language. One knows in which miserable state this literature reached us. Collected by Byzantine scientists from the tenth century, the corpus of the Greek alchemists is a cluster of incoherent fragments, going back to all the times since the third century until the end of the Middle Ages. The efforts of Berthelot and Ruelle to put a little order in this mass of literature led only to poor results, and the later researchers, among them in particular Mrs. Hammer-Jensen, Tannery, Lagercrantz, von Lippmann, Reitzenstein, Ruska, Bidez, Festugière and others, could make clear only few points of detail .... The study of the Greek alchemists is not very encouraging. An even surface examination of the Greek texts shows that a very small part only was organized according to true experiments of laboratory: even the supposedly technical writings, in the state where we find them today, are unintelligible nonsense which refuses any interpretation. It is different with Jabir's alchemy. The relatively clear description of the


id: alchemy-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-4.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
Whereas European alchemy eventually centered on the transmutation of base metals into noble metals, Chinese alchemy had a more obvious connection to medicine. The philosopher's stone of European alchemists can be compared to the elixir of life sought by Chinese alchemists. In the Hermetic view, these two goals were not unconnected, and the philosopher's stone was often equated with the universal panacea; therefore, the two traditions may have had more in common than initially appears. As early as 317 AD, Ge Hong documented the use of metals, minerals, and elixirs in early Chinese medicine. Hong identified three ancient Chinese documents—titled the Scripture of Great Clarity, the Scripture of the Nine Elixirs, and the Scripture of the Golden Liquor—as texts containing fundamental alchemical information. He also described alchemy, along with meditation, as the sole spiritual practices that could allow one to gain immortality or to transcend to a higher state of being. In his work Inner Chapters of the Book of the Master Who Embraces Spontaneous Nature (317 AD), Hong argued that alchemical solutions such as elixirs were preferable to traditional medicinal treatment due to the spiritual protection they could provide. In the centuries following Ge Hong's death, the emphasis placed


id: alchemy-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-5.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
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parent: alchemy-20260505-0
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The introduction of alchemy to Latin Europe may be dated to 11 February 1144, with the completion of Robert of Chester's translation of the Liber de compositione alchemiae (Book on the Composition of Alchemy) from an Arabic work attributed to Khalid ibn Yazid. Although European craftsmen and technicians pre-existed, Robert notes in his preface that alchemy (here still referring to the elixir rather than to the art itself) was unknown in Latin Europe at the time of his writing. The translation of Arabic texts concerning numerous disciplines including alchemy flourished in 12th-century Toledo, Spain, through contributors like Gerard of Cremona and Adelard of Bath. Translations of the time included the Turba Philosophorum, and the works of Avicenna and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi. These brought with them many new words to the European vocabulary for which there was no previous Latin equivalent. Alcohol, carboy, elixir, and athanor are examples. Meanwhile, theologian contemporaries of the translators made strides towards the reconciliation of faith and experimental rationalism, thereby priming Europe for the influx of alchemical thought. The 11th-century theologian Anselm of Canterbury put forth the opinion that faith and rationalism were compatible and encouraged rationalism in a Christian context. In the early 12th


id: alchemy-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-6.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
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parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
In the 14th century, alchemy became more accessible to Europeans outside the confines of Latin-speaking churchmen and scholars. Alchemical discourse shifted from scholarly philosophical debate to an exposed social commentary on the alchemists themselves. Dante, Piers Plowman, and Chaucer all painted unflattering pictures of alchemists as thieves and liars. Pope John XXII's 1317 edict Spondent quas non-exhibent forbade the false promises of transmutation made by pseudo-alchemists. Roman Catholic Inquisitor General Nicholas Eymerich's Directorium Inquisitorum, written in 1376, associated alchemy with the performance of demonic rituals, which Eymerich differentiated from magic performed in accordance with Christian scripture. This did not, however, lead to any change in the Inquisition's monitoring or prosecution of alchemists. In 1404, Henry IV of England banned the practice of multiplying metals by the passing of the Gold and Silver Act 1403 (5 Hen. 4. c. 4) (although it was possible to buy a licence to attempt to make gold alchemically, and a number were granted by Henry VI and Edward IV). These critiques and regulations centered more around pseudo-alchemical charlatanism than the actual study of alchemy, which continued with an increasingly Christian tone. The 14th century saw the Christian imagery of death and resurrection employed in the


id: alchemy-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-7.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
Although most of these appointments were legitimate, the trend of pseudo-alchemical fraud continued through the Renaissance. Betrüger would use sleight of hand, or claims of secret knowledge to make money or secure patronage. Legitimate mystical and medical alchemists such as Michael Maier and Heinrich Khunrath wrote about fraudulent transmutations, distinguishing themselves from the con artists. False alchemists were sometimes prosecuted for fraud. The terms "chemia" and "alchemia" were used as synonyms in the early modern period, and the differences between alchemy, chemistry and small-scale assaying and metallurgy were not as neat as in the present day. There were important overlaps between practitioners, and trying to classify them into alchemists, chemists and craftsmen is anachronistic. For example, Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), an alchemist better known for his astronomical and astrological investigations, had a laboratory built at his Uraniborg observatory/research institute. Michael Sendivogius (Michał Sędziwój, 1566–1636), a Polish alchemist, philosopher, medical doctor and pioneer of chemistry wrote mystical works but is also credited with distilling oxygen in a lab sometime around 1600. Sendivogious taught his technique to Cornelius Drebbel who, in 1621, applied this in a submarine. Isaac Newton devoted considerably more of his writing to the study of alchemy (see Isaac Newton's


id: alchemy-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-8.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
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parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Women === Several women appear in the earliest history of alchemy. Michael Maier names four women who were able to make the philosophers' stone: Mary the Jewess, Cleopatra the Alchemist, Medera, and Taphnutia. Zosimos's sister Theosebia (later known as Euthica the Arab) and Isis the Prophetess also played roles in early alchemical texts. The first alchemist whose name we know was Mary the Jewess (c. 200 A.D.). Early sources claim that Mary (or Maria) devised a number of improvements to alchemical equipment and tools as well as novel techniques in chemistry. Her best known advances were in heating and distillation processes. The laboratory water-bath, known eponymously (especially in France) as the bain-marie, is said to have been invented or at least improved by her. Essentially a double-boiler, it was (and is) used in chemistry for processes that required gentle heating. The tribikos (a modified distillation apparatus) and the kerotakis (a more intricate apparatus used especially for sublimations) are two other advancements in the process of distillation that are credited to her. Although we have no writing from Mary herself, she is known from the early-fourth-century writings of Zosimos of Panopolis. After the Greco-Roman period, women's names appear less frequently


id: alchemy-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-9.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
Western alchemical theory corresponds to the worldview of late antiquity in which it was born. Concepts were imported from Neoplatonism and earlier Greek cosmology. As such, the classical elements appear in alchemical writings, as do the seven classical planets and the corresponding seven metals of antiquity. Similarly, the gods of the Roman pantheon who are associated with these luminaries are discussed in alchemical literature. The concepts of prima materia and anima mundi are central to the theory of the philosopher's stone. === Magnum opus === The Great Work of Alchemy is often described as a series of four stages represented by colours. nigredo, a blackening or melanosis albedo, a whitening or leucosis citrinitas, a yellowing or xanthosis rubedo, a reddening, purpling, or iosis == Modernity == Due to the complexity and obscurity of alchemical literature, and the 18th-century diffusion of remaining alchemical practitioners into the area of chemistry, the general understanding of alchemy in the 19th and 20th centuries was influenced by several distinct and radically different interpretations. Those focusing on the exoteric, such as historians of science Lawrence M. Principe and William R. Newman, have interpreted the Decknamen ('code words') of alchemy as physical substances. These scholars have reconstructed


id: alchemy-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-10.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
Alchemy has had a long-standing relationship with art, evident in both alchemical texts and mainstream entertainment. Literary alchemy appears throughout the history of English literature from William Shakespeare to J. K. Rowling, and also the popular Japanese manga Fullmetal Alchemist. Here, characters or plot structure follow an alchemical magnum opus. In the 14th century, Chaucer began a trend of alchemical satire that can still be seen in recent fantasy works, such as those of the late Sir Terry Pratchett. Another literary work inspired by the alchemical tradition is the 1988 novel The Alchemist by Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho. Visual artists have had a similar relationship with alchemy. While some used it as a source of satire, others worked with the alchemists themselves or integrated alchemical thought or symbols in their work. Music was also present in the works of alchemists and continues to influence popular performers. In the last hundred years, alchemists have been portrayed in a magical and spagyric role in fantasy fiction, film, television, novels, comics, and video games. === Science === One goal of alchemy, the transmutation of base substances into gold, is now known to be impossible by means of traditional chemistry, but possible by other


id: alchemy-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy-11.md
category: reference
title: Alchemy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:51.562169+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alchemy-20260505-0
summary:
==== Studies ==== Dylan M. Burns, " μίξεώς τινι τέχνῃ κρείττονι : Alchemical Metaphor in the Paraphrase of Shem (NHC VII,1) ", Aries 15 (2015), p. 79–106. Alberto Camplani, " Procedimenti magico-alchemici e discorso filosofico ermetico " in Giuliana Lanata (ed.), Il Tardoantico alle soglie del Duemila, ETS, 2000, p. 73–98. Alberto Camplani and Marco Zambon, " Il sacrificio come problema in alcune correnti filosofice di età imperiale ", Annali di storia dell'esegesi 19 (2002), p. 59–99. Régine Charron and Louis Painchaud, " 'God is a Dyer,' The Background and Significance of a Puzzling Motif in the Coptic Gospel According to Philip (CG II, 3), Le Muséon 114 (2001), p. 41-50. Régine Charron, " The Apocryphon of John (NHC II,1) and the Greco-Egyptian Alchemical Literature ", Vigiliae Christinae 59 (2005), p. 438-456. Philippe Derchain, "L'Atelier des Orfèvres à Dendara et les origines de l'alchimie," Chronique d'Égypte, vol. 65, no 130, 1990, p. 219–242. Korshi Dosoo, " A History of the Theban Magical Library ", Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 53 (2016), p. 251–274. Olivier Dufault, Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity, California Classical Studies, 2019, Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity. Sergio


id: annals-of-philosophy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals_of_Philosophy-0.md
category: reference
title: Annals of Philosophy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals_of_Philosophy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:52.713869+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: annals-of-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
Annals of Philosophy; or, Magazine of Chemistry, Mineralology, Mechanics, Natural History, Agriculture and the Arts was a learned journal founded in 1813 by the Scottish chemist Thomas Thomson. It shortly became a leader in its field of commercial scientific periodicals. Contributors included John George Children, Edward Daniel Clarke, Philip Crampton, Alexander Crichton, James Cumming, John Herapath, William George Horner, Thomas Dick Lauder, John Miers, Matthew Paul Moyle, Robert Porrett, James Thomson, and Charles Wheatstone. Thomson edited it until 1821, when he was succeeded in 1821 by Richard Phillips. The journal was bought by Richard Taylor in 1827, and closed down for the benefit of the Philosophical Magazine. The Annals of Philosophy were issued monthly following a standard pattern. Often the first article was a biographical article (10 pages) on a living or recently deceased scientist. This was then followed by a series of extended pieces (5-10 pages) on particular topics, sometimes by eminent authors. Then there were shorter news items and correspondence. Summaries followed: first of the proceedings of learned bodies (Royal Society, Linnean, French Institute -if available: the Napoleonic Wars made communications with the continent difficult at first, etc.), then of patents, and finally of new books. The last


id: biofact-philosophy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofact_(philosophy)-0.md
category: reference
title: Biofact (philosophy)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofact_(philosophy)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:54.054666+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: biofact-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
In philosophy and sociology, a biofact is a being that is both an artifact and living being, or both natural and artificial. This being has been created by purposive human action but exists by processes of growth. The word is a neologism coined from the combination of the words bios and artifact. There are sources who cite some creations of genetic engineering as examples of biofacts. == History == Biofact was introduced as early as 2001 by the German philosopher Nicole C. Karafyllis although her book Biofakte published in 2003 is commonly used as reference for the introduction of the term. According to Karafyllis, the word biofact first appeared in a German article (entitled 'Biofakt und Artefakt') in 1943, written by the Austrian protozoologist Bruno M. Klein. Addressing both microscopy and philosophy, Klein named a biofact something that is a visible dead product emerging from a living being while this being is still alive (e.g. a shell). However, Klein's distinction operated with the difference biotic/abiotic and dead/alive, not with nature/technology and growth/man-made. For her part, Karafyllis described biofact as a hermeneutic concept that allows the comparison between nature and technology in the domain of the living. == Philosophy == With


id: cardiocentric-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiocentric_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Cardiocentric hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiocentric_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:55.250568+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cardiocentric-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
According to the cardiocentric hypothesis, the heart is the primary location of human emotions, cognition, and awareness. This notion may be traced back to ancient civilizations such as Egypt and Greece, where the heart was regarded not only as a physical organ but also as a repository of emotions and wisdom. Aristotle, a well-known Greek philosopher in this field, contributed to the notion by thinking the heart to be the centre of both emotions and intellect. He believed that the heart was the center of the psycho-physiological system and that it was responsible for controlling sensation, thought, and body movement. He also observed that the heart was the origin of the veins in the body and that the existence of pneuma in the heart was to function as a messenger, traveling through blood vessels to produce sensation. This point of view remained throughout history, spanning the Middle Ages and Renaissance, influencing medical and intellectual debate. An opposing theory called "cephalocentrism", which proposed that the brain played the dominant role in controlling the body, was first introduced by Pythagoras in 550 BC, who argued that the soul resides in the brain and is immortal. His statements were supported by Plato, Hippocrates,


id: cardiocentric-hypothesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiocentric_hypothesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Cardiocentric hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiocentric_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:55.250568+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cardiocentric-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
=== Europe === In the Middle Ages, the German Catholic friar Albertus Magnus made contributions to physiology and biology. His treatise was based on Galen's cephalocentric theory and was profoundly affected by Avicenna's preeminent Canon, which itself had been influenced by Aristotle. He combined these ideas in a new way which suggested that nerves branched off from the brain but that the origin was the heart. He concluded that philosophically, all matters originated from the heart, and in the corporeal explanation, all nerves started from the brain. William Harvey, an early modern English physiologist, also agreed with Aristotle's cardiocentric view. He was the first to describe the basic operation of the circulatory system, by which blood was pumped by the heart to the rest of the body, in detail. He explained that the heart was the centre of the body and the source of life in his treatise De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus. == Cephalocentric perspective == Hippocrates of Kos was the first to suggest that the brain was the seat of the soul and intelligence. From his treatise De morbo sacro, he pointed out that the brain controls the rest of the body and is responsible for


id: classical-element-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element-0.md
category: reference
title: Classical element
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:56.401003+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: classical-element-20260505-0
summary:
The classical elements typically refer to earth, water, fire, air, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Angola, Tibet, India, and Mali had similar lists which sometimes referred, in local languages, to "air" as "wind", and to "aether" as "space". These different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as cosmology. Sometimes these theories overlapped with mythology and were personified in deities. Some of these interpretations included atomism (the idea of very small, indivisible portions of matter), but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. While the classification of the material world among the ancient Indians, Hellenistic Egyptians, and ancient Greeks into air, earth, fire, and water was more philosophical; scientists of the Middle Ages used practical, experimental observation to classify materials. In Europe, the ancient Greek concept, devised by Empedocles, evolved into the systematic classifications of Aristotle and Hippocrates. This evolved slightly into the medieval system, and eventually became the object of experimental verification in the 17th century, at


id: classical-element-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element-1.md
category: reference
title: Classical element
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:56.401003+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: classical-element-20260505-0
summary:
==== Aether ==== Aristotle added a fifth element, aether (αἰθήρ aither), as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the stars cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance. It had previously been believed by pre-Socratics such as Empedocles and Anaxagoras that aether, the name applied to the material of heavenly bodies, was a form of fire. Aristotle himself did not use the term aether for the fifth element, and strongly criticised the pre-Socratics for associating the term with fire. He preferred a number of other terms indicating eternal movement, thus emphasising the evidence for his discovery of a new element. These five elements have been associated since Plato's Timaeus with the five platonic solids. Earth was associated with the cube, air with the octahedron, water with the icosahedron, and fire with the tetrahedron. Of the fifth Platonic solid, the dodecahedron, Plato obscurely remarked, "...the god used [it] for arranging the constellations on the whole heaven". Aristotle added a fifth element, aither (aether in Latin, "ether" in English) and postulated that


id: classical-element-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element-2.md
category: reference
title: Classical element
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:56.401003+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: classical-element-20260505-0
summary:
Just as a skilled butcher or his apprentice, having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads cutting it up into pieces, the monk contemplates this very body — however it stands, however it is disposed — in terms of properties: 'In this body there is the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property.' Tibetan Buddhist medical literature speaks of the pañca mahābhūta (five elements) or "elemental properties": earth, water, fire, wind, and space. The concept was extensively used in traditional Tibetan medicine. Tibetan Buddhist theology, tantra traditions, and "astrological texts" also spoke of them making up the "environment, [human] bodies," and at the smallest or "subtlest" level of existence, parts of thought and the mind. Also at the subtlest level of existence, the elements exist as "pure natures represented by the five female buddhas", Ākāśadhātviśvarī, Buddhalocanā, Mamakī, Pāṇḍarāvasinī, and Samayatārā, and these pure natures "manifest as the physical properties of earth (solidity), water (fluidity), fire (heat and light), wind (movement and energy), and" the expanse of space. These natures exist as all "qualities" that are in the physical world and take forms in it. == Ancient African philosophy == === Central Africa === In


id: classical-element-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element-3.md
category: reference
title: Classical element
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:56.401003+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: classical-element-20260505-0
summary:
Earth (South) represents the youth cycle, summer, the Indigenous race, and cedar medicine. Fire (East) represents the birth cycle, spring, the Asian race, and tobacco medicine. Wind/Air (North) represents the elder cycle, winter, the European race, and sweetgrass medicine. Water (West) represents the adulthood cycle, autumn, the African race, and sage medicine. == Modern history == === Chemical element === The Aristotelian tradition and medieval alchemy eventually gave rise to modern chemistry, scientific theories and new taxonomies. By the time of Antoine Lavoisier, for example, a list of elements would no longer refer to classical elements. Some modern scientists see a parallel between the classical elements and the four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and weakly ionized plasma. Modern science recognises classes of elementary particles which have no substructure (or rather, particles that are not made of other particles) and composite particles having substructure (particles made of other particles). === Western astrology === Western astrology uses the four classical elements in connection with astrological charts and horoscopes. The twelve signs of the zodiac are divided into the four elements: Fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, Earth signs are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, Air signs are Gemini, Libra and


id: corpuscular-theory-of-light-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpuscular_theory_of_light-0.md
category: reference
title: Corpuscular theory of light
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpuscular_theory_of_light
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:57.557855+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: corpuscular-theory-of-light-20260505-0
summary:
In optics, the corpuscular theory of light states that light is made up of small discrete particles called "corpuscles" (little particles) which travel in a straight line with a finite velocity and possess impetus. This notion was based on an alternate description of atomism of the time period. Isaac Newton laid the foundations for this theory through his work in optics. This early conception of the particle theory of light was an early forerunner to the modern understanding of the photon. This theory came to dominate the conceptions of light in the eighteenth century, displacing the previously prominent vibration theories, where light was viewed as "pressure" of the medium between the source and the receiver, first championed by René Descartes, and later in a more refined form by Christiaan Huygens. In part correct, being able to successfully explain refraction, reflection, rectilinear propagation and to a lesser extent diffraction, the theory would fall out of favor in the early nineteenth century, as the wave theory of light amassed new experimental evidence. The modern understanding of light is the concept of wave-particle duality. == Corpuscular theory of matter == === Mechanical philosophy === In the early 17th century, natural philosophers began to


id: corpuscular-theory-of-light-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpuscular_theory_of_light-1.md
category: reference
title: Corpuscular theory of light
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpuscular_theory_of_light
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:57.557855+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: corpuscular-theory-of-light-20260505-0
summary:
Isaac Newton worked on optics throughout his research career, conducting various experiments and developing hypotheses to explain his results. He dismissed Descartes' theory of light because he rejected Descartes’ understanding of space, which derived from it. With the publication of Opticks in 1704, Newton for the first time took a clear position supporting a corpuscular interpretation, though it would fall on his followers to systemise the theory. In the 1718 edition of Opticks, Newton added several uncertain hypotheses about the nature of light, formulated as queries. In query (Qu.) 16, he wondered whether the way a quavering motion of a finger pressing against the bottom of the eye causes the sensation of circles of colour is similar to how light affects the retina, and whether the independent continuation of the induced sensation for about a second indicates a vibrating nature of the motions in the eye. In Qu. 17, Newton compared the vibrations to the waves propagating in concentric circles after a stone has been thrown in water, and to "the Vibrations or Tremors excited in the Air by percussion". He therefore proposed that light rays would similarly excite waves of vibrations in a reflecting or refracting medium, which in


id: cosmic-pluralism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_pluralism-0.md
category: reference
title: Cosmic pluralism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_pluralism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:58.727360+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cosmic-pluralism-20260505-0
summary:
Cosmic pluralism, the plurality of worlds, or simply pluralism, describes the belief in numerous "worlds" (planets, dwarf planets or natural satellites) in addition to Earth (possibly an infinite number), which may harbour extraterrestrial life. The debate over pluralism began as early as the time of Anaximander (c. 610 – c. 546 BC) as a metaphysical argument, long predating the scientific Copernican conception that the Earth is one of numerous planets. It has continued, in a variety of forms, until the modern era. == Ancient Greek debates == In Greek times, the debate was largely philosophical and did not conform to present notions of cosmology. Cosmic pluralism was a corollary to notions of infinity, and the purported multitude of life-bearing worlds were more akin to parallel universes (either contemporaneously in space or infinitely recurring in time) than to different solar systems. After Anaximander opened the door to an infinite universe, infinite higher dimensions, and an infinite amount of universes and other classes of verses, a strong pluralist stance was adopted by the atomists, notably Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus—whose Epistle to Herodotus clearly lays out the Doctrine of Innumerable Worlds—and Lucretius who elaborates this Doctrine in his work De rerum natura. Anaxarchus told


id: cosmogony-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmogony-0.md
category: reference
title: Cosmogony
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmogony
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:59.903365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cosmogony-20260505-0
summary:
Cosmogony, also spelled as cosmogeny, or cosmogenesis, is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe. == Types == While cosmogony generally refers to origin stories, the nature and subject of these stories varies with times and sources. Ancient Greece developed a cosmogony focused on the origin of matter, space, and time with a transition from Chaos to Cosmos. This was a form of "philosophical cosmogony" that is distinct from modern empirical science but which nevertheless dealt with many similar questions. Another type of cosmogony focuses on the formation and evolution of the Solar System. or sometimes the formation of galaxies. The standard cosmological model of the early development of the universe is the Big Bang theory, but it is based on a model known to fail at the very earliest times. Thus modern cosmogony is not generally a consequence of modern cosmology theories. == Scientific cosmogenesis == A Big Bang model for the dynamics of the universe is widely agreed among cosmologists. Like most physical models, Big Bang models describe changes of state. Few physical models are designed to determine initial conditions: initial states are given by experimental measurements or by hypothesis. In cosmology, the initial


id: cosmogony-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmogony-1.md
category: reference
title: Cosmogony
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmogony
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:32:59.903365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cosmogony-20260505-0
summary:
Creation ex nihilo in which the creation is through the thought, word, dream or bodily secretions of a divine being from initial state of nothing. Earth diver creation in which a diver, usually a bird or amphibian sent by a creator, plunges to the seabed through a primordial ocean to bring up sand or mud which develops into a terrestrial world. Emergence myths in which progenitors pass through a series of worlds and metamorphoses until reaching the present world. Creation by the dismemberment of a primordial being, as in the Ymir motif, otherwise known as the world parent myth. Creation by the splitting or ordering of a primordial unity such as the cracking of a cosmic egg or a bringing order from chaos. == Compared with cosmology == In the humanities, the distinction between cosmogony and cosmology is blurred. For example, in theology, the cosmological argument for the existence of God (pre-cosmic cosmogonic bearer of personhood) is an appeal to ideas concerning the origin of the universe and is thus cosmogonical. Some religious cosmogonies have an impersonal first cause (for example Taoism). However, in astronomy, cosmogony can be distinguished from cosmology, which studies the universe and its existence, but does


id: de-mirabilibus-sacrae-scripturae-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_mirabilibus_sacrae_scripturae-0.md
category: reference
title: De mirabilibus sacrae scripturae
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_mirabilibus_sacrae_scripturae
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:01.055248+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-mirabilibus-sacrae-scripturae-20260505-0
summary:
De mirabilibus sacrae scripturae (English: On the Miraculous Things in Sacred Scripture) is a Latin treatise written around 655 by an anonymous Irish writer and philosopher known as Augustinus Hibernicus or the Irish Augustine. The author's nickname is in reference to the philosopher Augustine of Hippo. This pseudo-Augustine was born in Ireland sometime in the first half of the seventh century and is noted especially for his natural philosophy. Around the year 655 he wrote a treatise called De mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae. It has long been regarded as an exceptional work, in that it demonstrates a strictly scientific approach in the matter of making direct observations of nature and subjecting them to a strictly logical interpretation. His treatise seeks to explain each miracle in the Scriptures as an extreme case of phenomena, yet still within the laws of nature. Augustine also gives a list of the terrestrial mammals of Ireland, and solves the problem of how they reached Ireland after the flood of Noah by proposing a solution – hundreds of years ahead of its time – that the island had been cut off from continental Europe by marine erosion. == Further reading == Bracken, Damian (1998), "Rationalism and the


id: diatribe-de-progidiosis-crucibus-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatribe_de_Progidiosis_Crucibus-0.md
category: reference
title: Diatribe de Progidiosis Crucibus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatribe_de_Progidiosis_Crucibus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:02.221791+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: diatribe-de-progidiosis-crucibus-20260505-0
summary:
Diatribe de progidiosis crucibus is a 1661 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was printed in Rome by Blasius Deversin and dedicated to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. A second edition of the work was published in Rome in 1666 and a German translation appeared in Gaspar Schott's Joco-seriorum naturae et artis (Würzburg, 1666). Diatribe is Kircher's most succinct and explicit statement in favour of seeking rational causes for phenomena through an understanding of natural laws, derived from observation, rather than seeking miraculous explanations. This continued the theme he had taken up in Scrutinium Physico-Medicum (1658) and pursued in greater detail in Mundus Subterraneus (1665). During an 1660 eruption of Vesuvius, small cross-shaped objects fell from the sky. They were seen as a message from the patron saint Saint Gennaro by the superstitious population of Naples. Kircher visited the volcano to investigate the phenomenon, and concluded that fine ash and moisture had settled on cloth, taking a cruciform shape defined by the weave itself. Kircher noted that the crosses had been seen on linen cloth but not on garments of wool, and that they had appeared only under certain specific conditions of temperature and moisture, causing "guttulae nitrosae"


id: edinburgh-philosophical-journal-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Philosophical_Journal-0.md
category: reference
title: Edinburgh Philosophical Journal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Philosophical_Journal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:03.370986+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: edinburgh-philosophical-journal-20260505-0
summary:
The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal was founded by its editors, Robert Jameson and David Brewster in 1819 as a scientific journal to publish articles on the latest science of the day. In 1826 the two editors fell out, and Jameson continued publication as the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. Jameson died in 1854, and his place as editor was then taken over by Thomas Anderson, Sir William Jardine, John Hutton Balfour and, for America, Henry Darwin Rogers. In 1864 it was merged into the Quarterly Journal of Science, London. The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal was published by Archibald Constable and Company, then in 1826 publication of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal was taken on by Adam Black, later A & C Black of Edinburgh. The journal covered emerging scientific developments in chemistry, optics, electricity, magnetism, and natural history, as well as related topics including practical mechanics, inventions, and scientific instruments. As well as articles by the editors, it published contributions by many of the leading scientists at the time, including Charles Babbage, John Herschel, Robert Stevenson, William Scoresby, Alexander Humboldt and Humphry Davy. It was one of the publishing options for the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and after 1839 it published proceedings of


id: force-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-0.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
In physics, a force is an action that can cause an object to change its velocity or its shape, or to resist other forces, or to cause changes of pressure in a fluid. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the magnitude and direction of a force are both important, force is a vector quantity (force vector). The SI unit of force is the newton (N), and force is often represented by the symbol F. Force plays an important role in classical mechanics. The concept of force is central to all three of Newton's laws of motion. Types of forces often encountered in classical mechanics include elastic, frictional, contact or "normal" forces, and gravitational. The rotational version of force is torque, which produces changes in the rotational speed of an object. In an extended body, each part applies forces on the adjacent parts; the distribution of such forces through the body is the internal mechanical stress. In the case of multiple forces, if the net force on an extended body is zero the body is in equilibrium. In modern physics, which includes relativity and quantum mechanics, the laws governing motion are revised to rely on


id: force-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-1.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
Sir Isaac Newton described the motion of all objects using the concepts of inertia and force. In 1687, Newton published his magnum opus, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. In this work Newton set out three laws of motion that have dominated the way forces are described in physics to this day. The precise ways in which Newton's laws are expressed have evolved in step with new mathematical approaches. === First law === Newton's first law of motion states that the natural behavior of an object at rest is to continue being at rest, and the natural behavior of an object moving at constant speed in a straight line is to continue moving at that constant speed along that straight line. The latter follows from the former because of the principle that the laws of physics are the same for all inertial observers, i.e., all observers who do not feel themselves to be in motion. An observer moving in tandem with an object will see it as being at rest. So, its natural behavior will be to remain at rest with respect to that observer, which means that an observer who sees it moving at constant speed in a straight line will


id: force-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-2.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
=== Defining "force" === Some textbooks use Newton's second law as a definition of force. However, for the equation F = m a {\displaystyle \mathbf {F} =m\mathbf {a} } for a constant mass m {\displaystyle m} to then have any predictive content, it must be combined with further information. Moreover, inferring that a force is present because a body is accelerating is only valid in an inertial frame of reference. The question of which aspects of Newton's laws to take as definitions and which to regard as holding physical content has been answered in various ways, which ultimately do not affect how the theory is used in practice. Notable physicists, philosophers and mathematicians who have sought a more explicit definition of the concept of force include Ernst Mach and Walter Noll. == Combining forces == Forces act in a particular direction and have sizes dependent upon how strong the push or pull is. Because of these characteristics, forces are classified as "vector quantities". This means that forces follow a different set of mathematical rules than physical quantities that do not have direction (denoted scalar quantities). For example, when determining what happens when two forces act on the same object, it


id: force-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-3.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
Static equilibrium was understood well before the invention of classical mechanics. Objects that are not accelerating have zero net force acting on them. The simplest case of static equilibrium occurs when two forces are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction. For example, an object on a level surface is pulled (attracted) downward toward the center of the Earth by the force of gravity. At the same time, a force is applied by the surface that resists the downward force with equal upward force (called a normal force). The situation produces zero net force and hence no acceleration. Pushing against an object that rests on a frictional surface can result in a situation where the object does not move because the applied force is opposed by static friction, generated between the object and the table surface. For a situation with no movement, the static friction force exactly balances the applied force resulting in no acceleration. The static friction increases or decreases in response to the applied force up to an upper limit determined by the characteristics of the contact between the surface and the object. A static equilibrium between two forces is the most usual way of measuring forces, using


id: force-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-4.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
For an object in free-fall, this force is unopposed and the net force on the object is its weight. For objects not in free-fall, the force of gravity is opposed by the reaction forces applied by their supports. For example, a person standing on the ground experiences zero net force, since a normal force (a reaction force) is exerted by the ground upward on the person that counterbalances his weight that is directed downward. Newton's contribution to gravitational theory was to unify the motions of heavenly bodies, which Aristotle had assumed were in a natural state of constant motion, with falling motion observed on the Earth. He proposed a law of gravity that could account for the celestial motions that had been described earlier using Kepler's laws of planetary motion. Newton came to realize that the effects of gravity might be observed in different ways at larger distances. In particular, Newton determined that the acceleration of the Moon around the Earth could be ascribed to the same force of gravity if the acceleration due to gravity decreased as an inverse square law. Further, Newton realized that the acceleration of a body due to gravity is proportional to the mass of


id: force-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-5.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
When objects are in contact, the force directly between them is called the normal force, the component of the total force in the system exerted normal to the interface between the objects. The normal force is closely related to Newton's third law. The normal force, for example, is responsible for the structural integrity of tables and floors as well as being the force that responds whenever an external force pushes on a solid object. An example of the normal force in action is the impact force on an object crashing into an immobile surface. === Friction === Friction is a force that opposes relative motion of two bodies. At the macroscopic scale, the frictional force is directly related to the normal force at the point of contact. There are two broad classifications of frictional forces: static friction and kinetic friction. The static friction force ( F s f {\displaystyle \mathbf {F} _{\mathrm {sf} }} ) will exactly oppose forces applied to an object parallel to a surface up to the limit specified by the coefficient of static friction ( μ s f {\displaystyle \mu _{\mathrm {sf} }} ) multiplied by the normal force ( F N {\displaystyle \mathbf {F} _{\text{N}}}


id: force-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-6.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
where V {\displaystyle V} is the volume of the object in the fluid and P {\displaystyle P} is the scalar function that describes the pressure at all locations in space. Pressure gradients and differentials result in the buoyant force for fluids suspended in gravitational fields, winds in atmospheric science, and the lift associated with aerodynamics and flight. A specific instance of such a force that is associated with dynamic pressure is fluid resistance: a body force that resists the motion of an object through a fluid due to viscosity. For so-called "Stokes' drag" the force is approximately proportional to the velocity, but opposite in direction: F d = − b v , {\displaystyle \mathbf {F} _{\mathrm {d} }=-b\mathbf {v} ,} where: b {\displaystyle b} is a constant that depends on the properties of the fluid and the dimensions of the object (usually the cross-sectional area), and v {\displaystyle \mathbf {v} } is the velocity of the object. More formally, forces in continuum mechanics are fully described by a stress tensor with terms that are roughly defined as σ = F A , {\displaystyle \sigma ={\frac {F}{A}},} where A {\displaystyle A} is the relevant cross-sectional area for the volume for which


id: force-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-7.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
with v = d x / d t {\displaystyle \mathbf {v} =\mathrm {d} \mathbf {x} /\mathrm {d} t} the velocity. === Potential energy === Instead of a force, often the mathematically related concept of a potential energy field is used. For instance, the gravitational force acting upon an object can be seen as the action of the gravitational field that is present at the object's location. Restating mathematically the definition of energy (via the definition of work), a potential scalar field U ( r ) {\displaystyle U(\mathbf {r} )} is defined as that field whose gradient is equal and opposite to the force produced at every point: F = − ∇ U . {\displaystyle \mathbf {F} =-\mathbf {\nabla } U.} Forces can be classified as conservative or nonconservative. Conservative forces are equivalent to the gradient of a potential while nonconservative forces are not. === Conservation === A conservative force that acts on a closed system has an associated mechanical work that allows energy to convert only between kinetic or potential forms. This means that for a closed system, the net mechanical energy is conserved whenever a conservative force acts on the system. The force, therefore, is related directly to the


id: force-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-8.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
remains valid because it is a mathematical definition. But for momentum to be conserved at relativistic relative velocity, v {\displaystyle v} , momentum must be redefined as: p = m 0 v 1 − v 2 / c 2 , {\displaystyle \mathbf {p} ={\frac {m_{0}\mathbf {v} }{\sqrt {1-v^{2}/c^{2}}}},} where m 0 {\displaystyle m_{0}} is the rest mass and c {\displaystyle c} the speed of light. The expression relating force and acceleration for a particle with constant non-zero rest mass m {\displaystyle m} moving in the x {\displaystyle x} direction at velocity v {\displaystyle v} is: F = ( γ 3 m a x , γ m a y , γ m a z ) , {\displaystyle \mathbf {F} =\left(\gamma ^{3}ma_{x},\gamma ma_{y},\gamma ma_{z}\right),} where γ = 1 1 − v 2 / c 2 . {\displaystyle \gamma ={\frac {1}{\sqrt {1-v^{2}/c^{2}}}}.} is called the Lorentz factor. The Lorentz factor increases steeply as the relative velocity approaches the speed of light. Consequently, the greater and greater force must be applied to produce the same acceleration at extreme velocity. The relative velocity cannot reach c {\displaystyle c} . If v {\displaystyle v} is very small compared to c {\displaystyle c} , then γ {\displaystyle


id: force-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-9.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
In modern particle physics, forces and the acceleration of particles are explained as a mathematical by-product of exchange of momentum-carrying gauge bosons. With the development of quantum field theory and general relativity, it was realized that force is a redundant concept arising from conservation of momentum (4-momentum in relativity and momentum of virtual particles in quantum electrodynamics). The conservation of momentum can be directly derived from the homogeneity or symmetry of space and so is usually considered more fundamental than the concept of a force. Thus the currently known fundamental forces are considered more accurately to be "fundamental interactions". While sophisticated mathematical descriptions are needed to predict, in full detail, the result of such interactions, there is a conceptually simple way to describe them through the use of Feynman diagrams. In a Feynman diagram, each matter particle is represented as a straight line (see world line) traveling through time, which normally increases up or to the right in the diagram. Matter and anti-matter particles are identical except for their direction of propagation through the Feynman diagram. World lines of particles intersect at interaction vertices, and the Feynman diagram represents any force arising from an interaction as occurring at the vertex


id: force-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-10.md
category: reference
title: Force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:04.607426+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: force-20260505-0
summary:
=== Electromagnetic === Maxwell's equations and the set of techniques built around them adequately describe a wide range of physics involving force in electricity and magnetism. This classical theory already includes relativity effects. Understanding quantized electromagnetic interactions between elementary particles requires quantum electrodynamics (QED). In QED, photons are fundamental exchange particles, describing all interactions relating to electromagnetism including the electromagnetic force. === Strong nuclear === There are two "nuclear forces", which today are usually described as interactions that take place in quantum theories of particle physics. The strong nuclear force is the force responsible for the structural integrity of atomic nuclei, and gains its name from its ability to overpower the electromagnetic repulsion between protons. The strong force is today understood to represent the interactions between quarks and gluons as detailed by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The strong force is the fundamental force mediated by gluons, acting upon quarks, antiquarks, and the gluons themselves. The strong force only acts directly upon elementary particles. A residual is observed between hadrons (notably, the nucleons in atomic nuclei), known as the nuclear force. Here the strong force acts indirectly, transmitted as gluons that form part of the virtual pi and rho


id: great-chain-of-being-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being-0.md
category: reference
title: Great chain of being
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:05.837285+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: great-chain-of-being-20260505-0
summary:
The great chain of being (from Latin scala naturae 'ladder of being') is a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, thought by the medieval Islamic world and medieval Christianity to have been decreed by God. The chain begins with God and descends through angels, humans, animals and plants to minerals. The great chain of being is a concept derived from Plato, Aristotle (in his Historia Animalium), Plotinus and Proclus. Further developed during the Middle Ages, it reached full expression in early modern Neoplatonism. == Divisions == The chain of being hierarchy consists of God at the top, above angels, which like him are entirely spirit, without material bodies, and hence unchangeable. Beneath them are humans, consisting both of spirit and matter; they change and die, and are thus essentially impermanent. Lower are animals and plants. At the bottom are the mineral materials of the earth itself; they consist only of matter. Thus, the higher the being is in the chain, the more attributes it has, including all the attributes of the beings below it. The minerals are, in the medieval mind, a possible exception to the immutability of the material beings in the chain, as alchemy promised to turn


id: great-chain-of-being-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being-1.md
category: reference
title: Great chain of being
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:05.837285+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: great-chain-of-being-20260505-0
summary:
The set nature of species, and thus the absoluteness of creatures' places in the great chain, came into question during the 18th century. The dual nature of the chain, divided yet united, had always allowed for seeing creation as essentially one continuous whole, with the potential for overlap between the links. Radical thinkers like Jean-Baptiste Lamarck saw a progression of life forms from the simplest creatures striving towards complexity and perfection, a schema accepted by zoologists like Henri de Blainville. The very idea of an ordering of organisms, even if supposedly fixed, laid the basis for the idea of transmutation of species, whether progressive goal-directed orthogenesis or Charles Darwin's undirected theory of evolution. The chain of being continued to be part of metaphysics in 19th-century education, and the concept was well known. The geologist Charles Lyell used it as a metaphor in his 1851 Elements of Geology description of the geological column, where he used the term "missing links" about missing parts of the continuum. The term "missing link" later came to signify transitional fossils, particularly those bridging the gulf between man and beasts. The idea of the great chain, as well as the derived "missing link", was abandoned in


id: holism-and-evolution-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holism_and_Evolution-0.md
category: reference
title: Holism and Evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holism_and_Evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:07.027969+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: holism-and-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Holism and Evolution is a 1926 book by South African statesman Jan Smuts, in which he coined the word "holism", although Smuts' meaning differs from the modern concept of holism. Smuts defined holism as the "fundamental factor operative towards the creation of wholes in the universe." The book was part of a broader trend of interest in holism in European and colonial academia during the early twentieth century. Smuts based his philosophy of holism on the thoughts behind his earlier book, Walt Whitman: A Study in the Evolution of Personality, written during his time at Cambridge in the early 1890s. The book describes a "process-orientated, hierarchical view of nature" and has been influential among criticisms of reductionism. Smuts' formulation of holism has also been linked with his political-military activity, especially his aspiration to create a league of nations: "the unification of the four provinces in the Union of South Africa, the idea of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and, finally, the great whole resulting from the combination of the peoples of the earth were just a logical progression consistent with his philosophical tenets." Smuts saw the League of Nations as a project that would unify white internationalists and pacify a


id: hylozoism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylozoism-0.md
category: reference
title: Hylozoism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylozoism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:08.199147+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: hylozoism-20260505-0
summary:
Hylozoism is the philosophical doctrine according to which all matter is alive or animated, either in itself or as participating in the action of a superior principle, usually the world-soul (anima mundi). The theory holds that matter is unified with life or spiritual activity. The word is a 17th-century term formed from the Greek words ὕλη (hyle: "wood, matter") and ζωή (zoē: "life"), which was coined by the English Platonist philosopher Ralph Cudworth in 1678. == Hylozoism in Ancient Greek Philosophy == Hylozoism in Western philosophy can be traced back to ancient Greece. The Milesian philosophers Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes, can be described as hylozoists. Philosopher David Skrbina states that hylozoism was implicit in early Greek philosophy, and was not a doctrine that was typically challenged. "For the Milesians, matter (hyle) possessed life (zoe) as an essential quality. Something like hylozoism was simply accepted as a brute condition of reality." Though hylozoism was implicit in early Greek thought, the philosopher Heraclitus specifically used the term zoe, making him explicitly hylozoist. The hylozoism of the pre-Socratic philosophers such as Thales and Heraclitus influenced later Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. Though hylozoism was common in ancient Greek thought,


id: hylozoism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylozoism-1.md
category: reference
title: Hylozoism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylozoism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:08.199147+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: hylozoism-20260505-0
summary:
== Contemporary hylozoism == Immanuel Kant presented arguments against hylozoism in the third chapter of his 1786 book Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaften ("First Metaphysical Principles of Natural Science") and also in his 1781 book Kritik der reinen Vernunft ("Critique of Pure Reason"). Yet, in our times, scientific hylozoism – whether modified, or keeping the trend to make all beings conform to some uniform pattern, to which the concept was adhered in modernity by Herbert Spencer, Hermann Lotze, and Ernst Haeckel – was often called upon as a protest against a mechanistic worldview. In the 19th century, Haeckel developed a materialist form of hylozoism, specially against Rudolf Virchow's and Hermann von Helmholtz's mechanical views of humans and nature. In his Die Welträtsel of 1899 (The Riddle of the Universe 1901), Haeckel upheld a unity of organic and inorganic nature and derived all actions of both types of matter from natural causes and laws. Thus, his form of hylozoism reverses the usual course by maintaining that living and nonliving things are essentially the same, and by erasing the distinction between the two and stipulating that they behave by a single set of laws. In contrast, the Argentine-German neurobiological tradition terms hylozoic hiatus


id: journal-of-natural-philosophy-chemistry-and-the-arts-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Natural_Philosophy,_Chemistry,_and_the_Arts-0.md
category: reference
title: Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Natural_Philosophy,_Chemistry,_and_the_Arts
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:09.347080+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: journal-of-natural-philosophy-chemistry-and-the-arts-20260505-0
summary:
A Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts, generally known as Nicholson's Journal, was the first monthly scientific journal in Great Britain. William Nicholson began it in 1797 and was the editor until it merged with another journal in January 1814. Nicholson's journal would accept short papers, written by new or anonymous authors, and decide whether to publish them relatively quickly. These attributes distinguished the new journal from the established scientific journal The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. By one account this less-formal model was so appealing that the next year (1798) a similar startup launched, Alexander Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, and in January 1813, a further rival, Thomas Thomson's Annals of Philosophy. == Significant articles == Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle split water into hydrogen and oxygen for the first time in 1800 and immediately published their results in the journal. They used Volta's pile (an electric battery) as soon as they learned of it to achieve this electrolysis. Discovery of the element palladium was announced in 1803. The author chose Nicholson's journal in order to remain anonymous at first, and later revealed himself to be William Hyde Wollaston. The journal published the first known aerodynamic analysis of gliders


id: liber-de-orbe-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liber_de_orbe-0.md
category: reference
title: Liber de orbe
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liber_de_orbe
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:10.505322+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: liber-de-orbe-20260505-0
summary:
Liber de orbe was a Latin translation made in 1130s CE of an Arabic work attributed to the 8th century astrologer Mashallah ibn Athari. The work's main topic is cosmology and is considered one of the earliest works on Aristotelian physics available in Latin. == See also == Astrology in medieval Islam == References ==


id: mean-speed-theorem-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_speed_theorem-0.md
category: reference
title: Mean speed theorem
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_speed_theorem
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:11.679450+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mean-speed-theorem-20260505-0
summary:
The mean speed theorem, also known as the Merton rule of uniform acceleration, was discovered in the 14th century by the Oxford Calculators of Merton College, and was proved by Nicole Oresme. It states that a uniformly accelerated body (starting from rest, i.e. zero initial velocity) travels the same distance as a body with uniform speed whose speed is half the final velocity of the accelerated body. == Details == Oresme provided a geometrical verification for the generalized Merton rule, which we would express today as s = 1 2 ( v 0 + v f ) t {\displaystyle s={\frac {1}{2}}(v_{0}+v_{\rm {f}})t} (i.e., distance traveled is equal to one half of the sum of the initial v 0 {\displaystyle v_{0}} and final v f {\displaystyle v_{\rm {f}}} velocities, multiplied by the elapsed time t {\displaystyle t} ), by finding the area of a trapezoid. Clay tablets used in Babylonian astronomy (350–50 BC) present trapezoid procedures for computing Jupiter's position and motion. The medieval scientists demonstrated this theorem—the foundation of "the law of falling bodies"—long before Galileo, who is generally credited with it. Oresme's proof is also the first known example of the modelization of a physical problem as a mathematical


id: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)-0.md
category: reference
title: Mechanism (philosophy)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:14.051618+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
Mechanism is the belief that natural wholes (principally living things) are similar to complicated machines or artifacts, composed of parts lacking any intrinsic relationship to each other. The doctrine of mechanism in philosophy comes in two different varieties. They are both doctrines of metaphysics, but they are different in scope and ambitions: the first is a global doctrine about nature; the second is a local doctrine about humans and their minds, which is hotly contested. For clarity, we might distinguish these two doctrines as universal mechanism and anthropic mechanism. == Mechanical philosophy == Mechanical philosophy is a form of natural philosophy which compares the universe to a large-scale mechanism (i.e. a machine). Mechanical philosophy is associated with the Scientific Revolution of early modern Europe. One of the first expositions of universal mechanism is found in the opening passages of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, published in 1651. Some intellectual historians and critical theorists argue that early mechanical philosophy was tied to disenchantment and the rejection of the idea of nature as living or animated by spirits or angels. Other scholars, however, have noted that early mechanical philosophers nevertheless believed in magic, Christianity and spiritualism. === Mechanism and determinism === Some ancient


id: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)-1.md
category: reference
title: Mechanism (philosophy)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:14.051618+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of the past and the cause of the future. An intellect which at any given moment knew all of the forces that animate nature and the mutual positions of the beings that compose it, if this intellect were vast enough to submit the data to analysis, could condense into a single formula the movement of the greatest bodies of the universe and that of the lightest atom; for such an intellect nothing could be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes. === Criticism === Critics argue that although mechanical philosophy includes a wide range of useful observational and principled data, it has not adequately explained the world and its components, and there are weaknesses in its definitions. Among the criticisms made of this philosophy are: Experts in religious studies have criticized the philosophy that God's intervention in the management of the world seems unnecessary. Newton's mechanical philosophy, with all its positive effects on human life, ultimately leads to Deism. It is a stagnant worldview that cannot explain God's constant presence and favor in the world. At the height of this philosophy,


id: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)-2.md
category: reference
title: Mechanism (philosophy)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:14.051618+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Criticism === In modern times, philosophers have raised several concerns regarding the manner in which both Descartes and Newton utilized the "scientific methodology" in their formulations of a universal mechanistic metaphysics. Noteworthy is Colin Murray Turbayne, who argued that both Descartes and Newton fell victim to at least three procedural errors while developing a doctrine of universal mechanism. Their first error emerged with the claim that the certainty which characterizes the use of deductive reasoning in the development of the relationship between theorems and principles is present within the natural world in the form of active principles which serve as catalysts for a causal chain of events. In the process, however, both philosophers exported a characteristic of the process of explaining natural events into the natural world itself and suddenly, "nature... obeys the logic of the deductive method. In addition, Descartes and Newton artificially bifurcated the natural world into "causes" (such as "gravity", "resistance" or "attraction") and "effects" (such as "bodies at rest" and "bodies in motion") while asserting that any deductive explanation of the natural world must be founded upon causal relationships. By claiming, however, that causal "laws" or "forces" are inherent within the natural world, both Descartes


id: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)-3.md
category: reference
title: Mechanism (philosophy)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:14.051618+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
==== History ==== One of the earliest attempts to use incompleteness to reason about human intelligence was by Gödel himself in his 1951 Gibbs Lecture entitled "Some basic theorems on the foundations of mathematics and their philosophical implications". In this lecture, Gödel uses the incompleteness theorem to arrive at the following disjunction: (a) the human mind is not a consistent finite machine, or (b) there exist Diophantine equations for which it cannot decide whether solutions exist. Gödel finds (b) implausible, and thus seems to have believed the human mind was not equivalent to a finite machine, i.e., its power exceeded that of any finite machine. He recognized that this was only a conjecture, since one could never disprove (b). Yet he considered the disjunctive conclusion to be a "certain fact". In subsequent years, more direct anti-mechanist lines of reasoning were apparently floating around the intellectual atmosphere. In 1960, Hilary Putnam published a paper entitled "Minds and Machines," in which he points out the flaws of a typical anti-mechanist argument. Informally, this is the argument that the (alleged) difference between "what can be mechanically proven" and "what can be seen to be true by humans" shows that human intelligence is not


id: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)-4.md
category: reference
title: Mechanism (philosophy)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_(philosophy)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:14.051618+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mechanism-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
Looked at this way, Gödel's proof suggests – though by no means does it prove! – that there could be some high-level way of viewing the mind/brain, involving concepts which do not appear on lower levels, and that this level might have explanatory power that does not exist – not even in principle – on lower levels. It would mean that some facts could be explained on the high level quite easily, but not on lower levels at all. No matter how long and cumbersome a low-level statement were made, it would not explain the phenomena in question. It is analogous to the fact that, if you make derivation after derivation in Peano arithmetic, no matter how long and cumbersome you make them, you will never come up with one for G – despite the fact that on a higher level, you can see that the Gödel sentence is true. What might such high-level concepts be? It has been proposed for eons, by various holistically or "soulistically" inclined scientists and humanists that consciousness is a phenomenon that escapes explanation in terms of brain components; so here is a candidate at least. There is also the ever-puzzling notion of free will.


id: natura-non-facit-saltus-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natura_non_facit_saltus-0.md
category: reference
title: Natura non facit saltus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natura_non_facit_saltus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:15.178924+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: natura-non-facit-saltus-20260505-0
summary:
Natura non facit saltus (Latin for "nature does not make jumps") has been an important principle of natural philosophy. It appears as an axiom in the works of Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays, IV, 16: "la nature ne fait jamais des sauts", "nature never makes jumps"), one of the inventors of the infinitesimal calculus (see Law of Continuity). It is also an essential element of Charles Darwin's treatment of natural selection in his Origin of Species. The Latin translation comes from Linnaeus' Philosophia Botanica. == Overview == The principle expresses the idea that natural things and properties change gradually, rather than suddenly. In a mathematical context, this allows one to assume that the solutions of the governing equations are continuous, and also does not preclude their being differentiable (differentiability implies continuity). Modern day quantum mechanics is sometimes seen as violating the principle, with its idea of discrete transitions between energy states. Erwin Schrödinger in his objections to quantum jumps supported the principle, and initially developed his wave mechanics in order to remove these jumps. In the biological context, the principle was used by Charles Darwin and others to defend the evolutionary postulate that all species develop from earlier species through gradual


id: naturphilosophie-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturphilosophie-0.md
category: reference
title: Naturphilosophie
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturphilosophie
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:16.335531+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: naturphilosophie-20260505-0
summary:
"Naturphilosophie" (German for "nature-philosophy") is a term used in English-language philosophy to identify a current in the philosophical tradition of German idealism, as applied to the study of nature in the earlier 19th century. German speakers use the clearer term "Romantische Naturphilosophie", the philosophy of nature developed at the time of the founding of German Romanticism. It is particularly associated with the philosophical work of Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel—though it has some clear precursors also. More particularly it is identified with some of the initial works of Schelling during the period 1797–9, in reaction to the views of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and subsequent developments from Schelling's position. Always controversial, some of Schelling's ideas in this direction are still considered of philosophical interest, even if the subsequent development of experimental natural science had a destructive impact on the credibility of the theories of his followers in Naturphilosophie. Naturphilosophie attempted to comprehend nature in its totality and to outline its general theoretical structure, thus attempting to lay the foundations for the natural sciences. In developing their theories, the German Naturphilosophen found their inspiration in the natural philosophy of the Ancient Greek Ionian philosophers. As an approach to


id: naturphilosophie-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturphilosophie-1.md
category: reference
title: Naturphilosophie
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturphilosophie
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:16.335531+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: naturphilosophie-20260505-0
summary:
Schelling's postkantian confrontation with nature itself begins with the overthrow of the Copernican revolution [...] Schelling held that the divisions imposed on nature, by our ordinary perception and thought, do not have absolute validity. They should be interpreted as the outcome of the single formative energy which is the soul or inner aspect of nature. In other words he was a proponent of a variety of organicism. The dynamic series of stages in nature, the forms in which the ideal structure of nature is realized, are matter, as the equilibrium of the fundamental expansive and contractive forces; light, with its subordinate processes (magnetism, electricity, and chemical action); organism, with its component phases of reproduction, irritability and sensibility. The continual change presented to us by experience, taken together with the thought of unity in productive force of nature, leads to the conception of the duality through which nature expresses itself in its varied products. In the introduction to the Ideen he argues against dogmatism, in the terms that a dogmatist cannot explain the organic; and that recourse to the idea of a cosmic creator is a feature of dogmatic systems imposed by the need to explain nature as purposive and unified.


id: optics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-0.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour, manipulation, and detection of electromagnetic radiation, including its interactions with matter and instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light. The study of optics extends to other forms of electromagnetic radiation, including radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays. The term optics is also applied to technology for manipulating beams of elementary charged particles. Most optical phenomena can be accounted for by using the classical electromagnetic description of light, however, complete electromagnetic descriptions of light are often difficult to apply in practice. Practical optics is usually done using simplified models. The most common of these, geometric optics, treats light as a collection of rays that travel in straight lines and bend when they pass through or reflect from surfaces. Physical optics is a more comprehensive model of light, which includes wave effects such as diffraction and interference that cannot be accounted for in geometric optics. Historically, the ray-based model of light was developed first, followed by the wave model of light. Progress in electromagnetic theory in the 19th century led to the discovery that light waves were in fact electromagnetic radiation. Some phenomena


id: optics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-1.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
During the Middle Ages, Greek ideas about optics were resurrected and extended by writers in the Muslim world. One of the earliest of these was Al-Kindi (c. 801–873) who wrote on the merits of Aristotelian and Euclidean ideas of optics, favouring the emission theory since it could better quantify optical phenomena. In 984, the Persian mathematician Ibn Sahl wrote the treatise "On burning mirrors and lenses", correctly describing a law of refraction equivalent to Snell's law. He used this law to compute optimum shapes for lenses and curved mirrors. In the early 11th century, Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham) wrote the Book of Optics (Kitab al-manazir) in which he explored reflection and refraction and proposed a new system for explaining vision and light based on observation and experiment. He rejected the "emission theory" of Ptolemaic optics with its rays being emitted by the eye, and instead put forward the idea that light reflected in all directions in straight lines from all points of the objects being viewed and then entered the eye, although he was unable to correctly explain how the eye captured the rays. Alhazen's work was largely ignored in the Arabic world but it was anonymously translated into Latin around


id: optics-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-2.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
In the early 17th century, Johannes Kepler expanded on geometric optics in his writings, covering lenses, reflection by flat and curved mirrors, the principles of pinhole cameras, inverse-square law governing the intensity of light, and the optical explanations of astronomical phenomena such as lunar and solar eclipses and astronomical parallax. He was also able to correctly deduce the role of the retina as the actual organ that recorded images, finally being able to scientifically quantify the effects of different types of lenses that spectacle makers had been observing over the previous 300 years. After the invention of the telescope, Kepler set out the theoretical basis on how they worked and described an improved version, known as the Keplerian telescope, using two convex lenses to produce higher magnification. Optical theory progressed in the mid-17th century with treatises written by philosopher René Descartes, which explained a variety of optical phenomena including reflection and refraction by assuming that light was emitted by objects which produced it. This differed substantively from the ancient Greek emission theory. In the late 1660s and early 1670s, Isaac Newton expanded Descartes's ideas into a corpuscle theory of light, famously determining that white light was a mix of colours


id: optics-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-3.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
Reflections can be divided into two types: specular reflection and diffuse reflection. Specular reflection describes the gloss of surfaces such as mirrors, which reflect light in a simple, predictable way. This allows for the production of reflected images that can be associated with an actual (real) or extrapolated (virtual) location in space. Diffuse reflection describes non-glossy materials, such as paper or rock. The reflections from these surfaces can only be described statistically, with the exact distribution of the reflected light depending on the microscopic structure of the material. Many diffuse reflectors are described or can be approximated by Lambert's cosine law, which describes surfaces that have equal luminance when viewed from any angle. Glossy surfaces can give both specular and diffuse reflection. In specular reflection, the direction of the reflected ray is determined by the angle the incident ray makes with the surface normal, a line perpendicular to the surface at the point where the ray hits. The incident and reflected rays and the normal lie in a single plane, and the angle between the reflected ray and the surface normal is the same as that between the incident ray and the normal. This is known as the Law of


id: optics-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-4.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
where S1 is the distance from the object to the lens, S2 is the distance from the lens to the image, and f is the focal length of the lens. In the sign convention used here, the object and image distances are positive if the object and image are on opposite sides of the lens. Incoming parallel rays are focused by a converging lens onto a spot one focal length from the lens, on the far side of the lens. This is called the rear focal point of the lens. Rays from an object at a finite distance are focused further from the lens than the focal distance; the closer the object is to the lens, the further the image is from the lens. With diverging lenses, incoming parallel rays diverge after going through the lens, in such a way that they seem to have originated at a spot one focal length in front of the lens. This is the lens's front focal point. Rays from an object at a finite distance are associated with a virtual image that is closer to the lens than the focal point, and on the same side of the lens as the object. The


id: optics-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-5.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
Since the Huygens–Fresnel principle states that every point of a wavefront is associated with the production of a new disturbance, it is possible for a wavefront to interfere with itself constructively or destructively at different locations producing bright and dark fringes in regular and predictable patterns. Interferometry is the science of measuring these patterns, usually as a means of making precise determinations of distances or angular resolutions. The Michelson interferometer was a famous instrument which used interference effects to accurately measure the speed of light. The appearance of thin films and coatings is directly affected by interference effects. Antireflective coatings use destructive interference to reduce the reflectivity of the surfaces they coat, and can be used to minimise glare and unwanted reflections. The simplest case is a single layer with a thickness of one-fourth the wavelength of incident light. The reflected wave from the top of the film and the reflected wave from the film/material interface are then exactly 180° out of phase, causing destructive interference. The waves are only exactly out of phase for one wavelength, which would typically be chosen to be near the centre of the visible spectrum, around 550 nm. More complex designs using multiple layers


id: optics-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-6.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
Refractive processes take place in the physical optics limit, where the wavelength of light is similar to other distances, as a kind of scattering. The simplest type of scattering is Thomson scattering which occurs when electromagnetic waves are deflected by single particles. In the limit of Thomson scattering, in which the wavelike nature of light is evident, light is dispersed independent of the frequency, in contrast to Compton scattering which is frequency-dependent and strictly a quantum mechanical process, involving the nature of light as particles. In a statistical sense, elastic scattering of light by numerous particles much smaller than the wavelength of the light is a process known as Rayleigh scattering while the similar process for scattering by particles that are similar or larger in wavelength is known as Mie scattering with the Tyndall effect being a commonly observed result. A small proportion of light scattering from atoms or molecules may undergo Raman scattering, wherein the frequency changes due to excitation of the atoms and molecules. Brillouin scattering occurs when the frequency of light changes due to local changes with time and movements of a dense material. Dispersion occurs when different frequencies of light have different phase velocities, due either


id: optics-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-7.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
In the leftmost figure above, the x and y components of the light wave are in phase. In this case, the ratio of their strengths is constant, so the direction of the electric vector (the vector sum of these two components) is constant. Since the tip of the vector traces out a single line in the plane, this special case is called linear polarisation. The direction of this line depends on the relative amplitudes of the two components. In the middle figure, the two orthogonal components have the same amplitudes and are 90° out of phase. In this case, one component is zero when the other component is at maximum or minimum amplitude. There are two possible phase relationships that satisfy this requirement: the x component can be 90° ahead of the y component or it can be 90° behind the y component. In this special case, the electric vector traces out a circle in the plane, so this polarisation is called circular polarisation. The rotation direction in the circle depends on which of the two-phase relationships exists and corresponds to right-hand circular polarisation and left-hand circular polarisation. In all other cases, where the two components either do not have


id: optics-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-8.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
Modern optics encompasses the areas of optical science and engineering that became popular in the 20th century. These areas of optical science typically relate to the electromagnetic or quantum properties of light but do include other topics. A major subfield of modern optics, quantum optics, deals with specifically quantum mechanical properties of light. Quantum optics is not just theoretical; some modern devices, such as lasers, have principles of operation that depend on quantum mechanics. Light detectors, such as photomultipliers and channeltrons, respond to individual photons. Electronic image sensors, such as CCDs, exhibit shot noise corresponding to the statistics of individual photon events. Light-emitting diodes and photovoltaic cells, too, cannot be understood without quantum mechanics. In the study of these devices, quantum optics often overlaps with quantum electronics. Specialty areas of optics research include the study of how light interacts with specific materials as in crystal optics and metamaterials. Other research focuses on the phenomenology of electromagnetic waves as in singular optics, non-imaging optics, non-linear optics, statistical optics, and radiometry. Additionally, computer engineers have taken an interest in integrated optics, machine vision, and photonic computing as possible components of the "next generation" of computers. Today, the pure science of optics is


id: optics-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-9.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
The human eye functions by focusing light onto a layer of photoreceptor cells called the retina, which forms the inner lining of the back of the eye. The focusing is accomplished by a series of transparent media. Light entering the eye passes first through the cornea, which provides much of the eye's optical power. The light then continues through the fluid just behind the cornea—the anterior chamber, then passes through the pupil. The light then passes through the lens, which focuses the light further and allows adjustment of focus. The light then passes through the main body of fluid in the eye—the vitreous humour, and reaches the retina. The cells in the retina line the back of the eye, except for where the optic nerve exits; this results in a blind spot. There are two types of photoreceptor cells, rods and cones, which are sensitive to different aspects of light. Rod cells are sensitive to the intensity of light over a wide frequency range, thus are responsible for black-and-white vision. Rod cells are not present on the fovea, the area of the retina responsible for central vision, and are not as responsive as cone cells to spatial and temporal changes


id: optics-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-10.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
Optical illusions (also called visual illusions) are characterized by visually perceived images that differ from objective reality. The information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give a percept that differs from the object being imaged. Optical illusions can be the result of a variety of phenomena including physical effects that create images that are different from the objects that make them, the physiological effects on the eyes and brain of excessive stimulation (e.g. brightness, tilt, colour, movement), and cognitive illusions where the eye and brain make unconscious inferences. Cognitive illusions include some which result from the unconscious misapplication of certain optical principles. For example, the Ames room, Hering, Müller-Lyer, Orbison, Ponzo, Sander, and Wundt illusions all rely on the suggestion of the appearance of distance by using converging and diverging lines, in the same way that parallel light rays (or indeed any set of parallel lines) appear to converge at a vanishing point at infinity in two-dimensionally rendered images with artistic perspective. This suggestion is also responsible for the famous moon illusion where the moon, despite having essentially the same angular size, appears much larger near the horizon than it does at zenith. This illusion so


id: optics-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics-11.md
category: reference
title: Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:17.531842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optics-20260505-0
summary:
where f {\displaystyle f} is the focal length, and D {\displaystyle D} is the diameter of the entrance pupil. By convention, "f/#" is treated as a single symbol, and specific values of f/# are written by replacing the number sign with the value. The two ways to increase the f-stop are to either decrease the diameter of the entrance pupil or change to a longer focal length (in the case of a zoom lens, this can be done by simply adjusting the lens). Higher f-numbers also have a larger depth of field due to the lens approaching the limit of a pinhole camera which is able to focus all images perfectly, regardless of distance, but requires very long exposure times. The field of view that the lens will provide changes with the focal length of the lens. There are three basic classifications based on the relationship to the diagonal size of the film or sensor size of the camera to the focal length of the lens: Normal lens: angle of view of about 50° (called normal because this angle considered roughly equivalent to human vision) and a focal length approximately equal to the diagonal of the film or sensor. Wide-angle


id: organicism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organicism-0.md
category: reference
title: Organicism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organicism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:18.712548+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: organicism-20260505-0
summary:
Organicism is the philosophical position that states that the universe and its various parts (including human societies) ought to be considered alive and naturally ordered, much like a living organism. Vital to the position is the idea that organicistic elements are not dormant "things" per se but rather dynamic components in a comprehensive system that is, as a whole, everchanging. Organicism is related to but remains distinct from holism insofar as it prefigures holism; while the latter concept is applied more broadly to universal part-whole interconnections such as in anthropology and sociology, the former is traditionally applied only in philosophy and biology. Furthermore, organicism is incongruous with reductionism because of organicism's consideration of "both bottom-up and top-down causation". Regarded as a fundamental tenet in natural philosophy, organicism has remained a vital current in modern thought, alongside both reductionism and mechanism, that has guided scientific inquiry since the early 17th century. Though there remains dissent among scientific historians concerning organicism's pregeneration, most scholars agree on Ancient Athens as its birthplace. Surfacing in Athenian writing in the 4th-century BC, Plato was among the first philosophers to consider the universe an intelligent living (almost sentient) being, which he posits in his Philebus and


id: organicism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organicism-1.md
category: reference
title: Organicism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organicism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:18.712548+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: organicism-20260505-0
summary:
== In theology == Organicism as a structuring or worldview motif finds implementation in the dogmatic theology of the nineteenth century. It was implemented prominently by Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck, and has been variously debated and appraised. Nonetheless, Bavinck's consideration of reality as both being and becoming, with an organic unity-and-diversity rooted in the united essence of the Trinity, stands as a prominent example of a theological implementation of organicism. Likewise, organicist language can be found in relation to faith and the church by Norwegian Lutheran theologian Gisle Johnson. Johnson construes the relationship between faith, church, and historical development as "an organic development", likening it to a sprout. For Gisle, systematic theology itself is an organic entity, a correlate of faith as principium cognoscendi where "the task is a systematic explication and reproduction of the content of faith-consciousness (Troesbevidsthedens), whereby the parts appear everywhere in their essential inner connection with the whole as an organism permeated and controlled by a definite principle." Prior to both of these theologians, organicism played an important role in the dogmatic construction of Danish dogmatician Hans Lassen Martensen. It is Martensen who provides a helpful and concise definition of organicism in its theological implementation:


id: organicism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organicism-2.md
category: reference
title: Organicism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organicism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:18.712548+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: organicism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Ecology === In ecology, "organicism" and "organicistic" (or "organismic") are used to designate theories which conceptualize populations, particularly ecological communities or ecosystems, according to the model of the individual organism. As such, the term "organicism" is sometimes used interchangeably with "holism", although there are versions of holism that are not organicistic/organismic but individualistic. Early iterations of Gaia theory took an explicitly organicist approach by conceptualizing the entire Earth as an integrated, self-regulating organic whole akin to a living being, rather than just a mechanical collection of separate components. == See also == Holistic community Hylozoism Mechanical and organic solidarity Organic unity Organismic theory Orthogenesis Philosophy of organism Structural functionalism Structuralism (biology) == References == == Further reading == Barberis, Daniela S. (August 2003). "In Search of an Object: Organicist Sociology and the Reality of Society in Fin-De-Siècle France". History of the Human Sciences. 16 (3): 51–72. doi:10.1177/09526951030163004. S2CID 145751633. Beckner, Morton (1967) Organismic Biology, in "Encyclopedia of Philosophy," ed. Paul Edwards, MacMillan and The Free Press. Gilbert, Scott F.; Sarkar, Sahotra (September 2000). "Embracing complexity: organicism for the 21st century". Developmental Dynamics. 219 (1): 1–9. doi:10.1002/1097-0177(2000)9999:9999<::AID-DVDY1036>3.0.CO;2-A. PMID 10974666. S2CID 9452159. Haraway, Donna (1976). Crystals, Fabrics, and Fields: Metaphors That


id: panta-rhei-doctrine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panta_rhei_(doctrine)-0.md
category: reference
title: Panta rhei (doctrine)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panta_rhei_(doctrine)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:19.876174+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: panta-rhei-doctrine-20260505-0
summary:
The formula panta rhei (Ancient Greek: πάντα ῥεῖ, meaning "everything flows") is an aphorism which describes Heraclitus' doctrine. Plato attributes this teaching to Heraclitus in his dialogue Cratylus, but the formula first appears in the work of the late antique Neoplatonist Simplicius. This formulaic summary of Heraclitus' thought was already in use in Augustan times. Its Latin translation (cuncta fluunt) can be found in the 15th book of Metamorphoses in the "Speech of Pythagoras", in which Ovid sets out the natural philosophical foundation of his Metamorphoses. == Origin == Πάντα ῥεῖ is a formulaic summary of Heraclitus' thought, who flourished around 500BC. In his characterization of Heraclitus' cosmological theory, Plato has Socrates combine some of his best-known theorems: "Πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει", "everything moves and nothing stays" – with "all kinds of ancient wisdom, of course about Cronus and Rhea, which Homer had already said". He assumes that the name of the Titan, Rhea, can be traced back to the meaning of "to flow". The phrase is first found in literal form in Simplicius (born 490 – 560), a late antique commentator on the writings of Aristotle. == Flux doctrine == The fact that the phrase in the flux


id: participation-philosophy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_(philosophy)-0.md
category: reference
title: Participation (philosophy)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_(philosophy)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:21.010107+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: participation-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
In philosophy, participation is the inverse of inherence. == Overview == Accidents are said to inhere in substance. Substances, in turn, participate in their accidents. For example, the color red is said to inhere in the red apple. Conversely, the red apple participates in the color red. Participation also is predicated by analogy to a dependence relations between accidents. Thus an act may be said to participate in time in the sense that every act must occur at some time. In a similar way, color may be said to inhere in space, meaning that a color occurs only on the surface of a body—and thus only in space. Inherence, on the other hand, would not normally be predicated analogously of accidents. == See also == Substance theory == References == Doull, James (2001). "The Problem of Participation in Plato's Parmenides". Dionysius. XIX: 9–26.


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-0.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (English: The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), often called simply the Principia (), is a book by Sir Isaac Newton that expounds Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation. The Principia is written in Latin and comprises three volumes, and was authorized (imprimatur) by Samuel Pepys, then-President of the Royal Society on 5 July 1686 and first published in 1687. After annotating and correcting his personal copy of the first edition, Newton published two further editions, during 1713 with errors in the 1687 version corrected, and an improved version of 1726. The Principia forms a mathematical foundation for the theory of classical mechanics, and is generally considered to be one of the most important works in the history of science. It has been referred to as "the greatest scientific work in history" and "the supreme expression in human thought of the mind's ability to hold the universe fixed as an object of contemplation". In formulating his physical laws, Newton developed and used mathematical methods now included in the field of calculus, expressing them in the form of geometric propositions about "vanishingly small" shapes. In a revised conclusion to the Principia (see § General


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-1.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
=== Book 2, part 2 of De motu corporum === Part of the contents originally planned for the first book was divided out into a second book, which largely concerns motion through resisting mediums. Just as Newton examined consequences of different conceivable laws of attraction in Book 1, here he examines different conceivable laws of resistance; thus Section 1 discusses resistance in direct proportion to velocity, and Section 2 goes on to examine the implications of resistance in proportion to the square of velocity. Through Book II, Newton was an important pioneer of fluid mechanics, and a later analysis showed that of its 53 propositions almost all are correct, with only two or three open to question. Book 2 discusses (in Section 5) hydrostatics and the properties of compressible fluids; he also derives Boyle's law (incorrectly; for an ideal gas is not like an elastic fluid). The effects of air resistance on pendulums are studied in Section 6, along with Newton's account of experiments that he carried out, to try to find out some characteristics of air resistance in reality by observing the motions of pendulums under different conditions. Newton compares the resistance offered by a medium against motions of


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-2.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
Only I must observe, that the vulgar conceive those quantities under no other notions but from the relation they bear to perceptible objects. And it will be convenient to distinguish them into absolute and relative, true and apparent, mathematical and common. ... instead of absolute places and motions, we use relative ones; and that without any inconvenience in common affairs; but in philosophical discussions, we ought to step back from our senses, and consider things themselves, distinct from what are only perceptible measures of them. To some modern readers it can appear that some dynamical quantities recognised today were used in the Principia but not named. The mathematical aspects of the first two books were so clearly consistent that they were easily accepted; for example, John Locke asked Christiaan Huygens whether he could trust the mathematical proofs and was assured about their correctness. However, the concept of an attractive force acting at a distance received a cooler response. In his notes, Newton wrote that the inverse square law arose naturally due to the structure of matter. However, he retracted this sentence in the published version, where he stated that the motion of planets is consistent with an inverse square law,


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-3.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
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parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
The General Scholium is a concluding essay added to the second edition, 1713 (and amended in the third edition, 1726). It is not to be confused with the General Scholium at the end of Book 2, Section 6, which discusses his pendulum experiments and resistance due to air, water, and other fluids. Here Newton used the expression hypotheses non fingo, "I formulate no hypotheses", in response to criticisms of the first edition of the Principia. ("Fingo" is sometimes nowadays translated "feign" rather than the traditional "frame," although "feign" does not properly translate "fingo"). Newton's gravitational attraction, an invisible force able to act over vast distances, had led to criticism that he had introduced "occult agencies" into science. Newton firmly rejected such criticisms and wrote that it was enough that the phenomena implied gravitational attraction, as they did; but the phenomena did not so far indicate the cause of this gravity, and it was both unnecessary and improper to frame hypotheses of things not implied by the phenomena: such hypotheses "have no place in experimental philosophy", in contrast to the proper way in which "particular propositions are inferr'd from the phenomena and afterwards rendered general by induction". Newton also underlined his


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-4.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
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parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
=== Halley and Newton's initial stimulus === In January 1684, Edmond Halley, Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke had a conversation in which Hooke claimed to not only have derived the inverse-square law but also all the laws of planetary motion. Wren was unconvinced, Hooke did not produce the claimed derivation although the others gave him time to do it, and Halley, who could derive the inverse-square law for the restricted circular case (by substituting Kepler's relation into Huygens' formula for the centrifugal force) but failed to derive the relation generally, resolved to ask Newton. Halley's visits to Newton in 1684 thus resulted from Halley's debates about planetary motion with Wren and Hooke, and they seem to have provided Newton with the incentive and spur to develop and write what became Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Halley was at that time a Fellow and Council member of the Royal Society in London (positions that in 1686 he resigned to become the Society's paid Clerk). Halley's visit to Newton in Cambridge in 1684 probably occurred in August. When Halley asked Newton's opinion on the problem of planetary motions discussed earlier that year between Halley, Hooke and Wren, Newton surprised Halley by saying that


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-5.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
It is not known just why Newton changed his mind so radically about the final form of what had been a readable narrative in De motu corporum, Liber Secundus of 1685, but he largely started afresh in a new, tighter, and less accessible mathematical style, eventually to produce Book 3 of the Principia as we know it. Newton frankly admitted that this change of style was deliberate when he wrote that he had (first) composed this book "in a popular method, that it might be read by many", but to "prevent the disputes" by readers who could not "lay aside the[ir] prejudices", he had "reduced" it "into the form of propositions (in the mathematical way) which should be read by those only, who had first made themselves masters of the principles established in the preceding books". The final Book 3 also contained in addition some further important quantitative results arrived at by Newton in the meantime, especially about the theory of the motions of comets, and some of the perturbations of the motions of the Moon. The result was numbered Book 3 of the Principia rather than Book 2 because in the meantime, drafts of Liber primus had expanded and


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-6.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
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parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
=== Newton's role === Newton had studied these books, or, in some cases, secondary sources based on them, and taken notes entitled Quaestiones quaedam philosophicae (Questions about philosophy) during his days as an undergraduate. During this period (1664–1666) he created the basis of calculus and performed the first experiments in the optics of colour. At this time, his proof that white light was a combination of primary colours (found via prismatics) replaced the prevailing theory of colours and received an overwhelmingly favourable response and occasioned bitter disputes with Robert Hooke and others, which forced him to sharpen his ideas to the point where he already composed sections of his later book Opticks by the 1670s in response. Work on calculus is shown in various papers and letters, including two to Leibniz. He became a fellow of the Royal Society and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics (succeeding Isaac Barrow) at Trinity College, Cambridge. === Newton's early work on motion === In the 1660s Newton studied the motion of colliding bodies and deduced that the centre of mass of two colliding bodies remains in uniform motion. Surviving manuscripts of the 1660s also show Newton's interest in planetary motion and that by


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-7.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
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parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
=== Controversy with Hooke === Hooke published his ideas about gravitation in the 1660s and again in 1674. He argued for an attracting principle of gravitation in Micrographia of 1665, in a 1666 Royal Society lecture On gravity, and again in 1674, when he published his ideas about the System of the World in somewhat developed form, as an addition to An Attempt to Prove the Motion of the Earth from Observations. Hooke clearly postulated mutual attractions between the Sun and planets, in a way that increased with nearness to the attracting body, along with a principle of linear inertia. Hooke's statements up to 1674 made no mention, however, that an inverse square law applies or might apply to these attractions. Hooke's gravitation was also not yet universal, though it approached universality more closely than previous hypotheses. Hooke also did not provide accompanying evidence or mathematical demonstration. On these two aspects, Hooke stated in 1674: "Now what these several degrees [of gravitational attraction] are I have not yet experimentally verified" (indicating that he did not yet know what law the gravitation might follow); and as to his whole proposal: "This I only hint at present", "having my self many other


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-8.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
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parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
== Location of early edition copies == It has been estimated that as many as 750 copies of the first edition were printed by the Royal Society, and "it is quite remarkable that so many copies of this small first edition are still in existence ... but it may be because the original Latin text was more revered than read". A survey published in 1953 located 189 surviving copies with nearly 200 further copies located by the most recent survey published in 2020, suggesting that the initial print run was larger than previously thought. However, more recent book historical and bibliographical research has examined those prior claims, and concludes that Macomber's earlier estimation of 500 copies is likely correct. Cambridge University Library has Newton's own copy of the first edition, with handwritten notes for the second edition. The Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William & Mary has a first edition copy of the Principia. Throughout are Latin annotations written by Thomas S. Savage. These handwritten notes are currently being researched at the college. The Frederick E. Brasch Collection of Newton and Newtoniana in Stanford University also has a first edition of the Principia. A first edition forms


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-9.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
=== Third edition, 1726 === After his serious illness in 1722 and after the appearance of a reprint of the second edition in Amsterdam in 1723, the 80-year-old Newton began to revise once again the Principia in the autumn of 1723. The third edition was published 25 March 1726, under the stewardship of Henry Pemberton, M.D., a man of the greatest skill in these matters...; Pemberton later said that this recognition was worth more to him than the two hundred guinea award from Newton. In 1739–1742, two French priests, Pères Thomas LeSeur and François Jacquier (of the Minim order, but sometimes erroneously identified as Jesuits), produced with the assistance of J.-L. Calandrini an extensively annotated version of the Principia in the 3rd edition of 1726. Sometimes this is referred to as the Jesuit edition: it was much used, and reprinted more than once in Scotland during the 19th century. Émilie du Châtelet also made a translation of Newton's Principia into French. Unlike LeSeur and Jacquier's edition, hers was a complete translation of Newton's three books and their prefaces. She also included a Commentary section where she fused the three books into a much clearer and easier to understand summary. She


id: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica-10.md
category: reference
title: Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:22.278569+00:00
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parent: philosophi-naturalis-principia-mathematica-20260505-0
summary:
In 1977, the spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2 left earth for the interstellar space carrying a picture of a page from Newton's Principia Mathematica, as part of the Golden Record, a collection of messages from humanity to extraterrestrials. In 2014, British astronaut Tim Peake named his upcoming mission to the International Space Station Principia after the book, in "honour of Britain's greatest scientist". Tim Peake's Principia launched on 15 December 2015 aboard Soyuz TMA-19M. == See also == Atomism Elements of the Philosophy of Newton Isaac Newton's occult studies == References == == Further reading == == External links == === Latin versions === First edition (1687) Trinity College Library, Cambridge High resolution digitised version of Newton's own copy of the first edition, with annotations. Cambridge University, Cambridge Digital Library High resolution digitised version of Newton's own copy of the first edition, interleaved with blank pages for his annotations and corrections. 1687: Newton's Principia, first edition (1687, in Latin). High-resolution presentation of the Gunnerus Library copy. 1687: Newton's Principia, first edition (1687, in Latin). Project Gutenberg. ETH-Bibliothek Zürich. From the library of Gabriel Cramer. Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica From the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the Library of


id: philosophical-magazine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Magazine-0.md
category: reference
title: Philosophical Magazine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Magazine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:23.445077+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophical-magazine-20260505-0
summary:
The Philosophical Magazine is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798; in 1822 Richard Taylor became joint editor and it has been published continuously by Taylor & Francis ever since. == Early history == The name of the journal dates from a period when "natural philosophy" embraced all aspects of science. The very first paper published in the journal carried the title "Account of Mr Cartwright's Patent Steam Engine". Other articles in the first volume include "Methods of discovering whether Wine has been adulterated with any Metals prejudicial to Health" and "Description of the Apparatus used by Lavoisier to produce Water from its component Parts, Oxygen and Hydrogen". == 19th century == Early in the nineteenth century, classic papers by Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday and James Prescott Joule appeared in the journal and in the 1860s James Clerk Maxwell contributed several long articles, culminating in a paper containing the deduction that light is an electromagnetic wave or, as he put it himself, "We can scarcely avoid the inference that light consists in transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena". The famous experimental


id: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society-0.md
category: reference
title: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:24.607649+00:00
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parent: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-0
summary:
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the second journal in the world exclusively devoted to science, after the Journal des sçavans, and therefore also the world's longest-running scientific journal. It became an official society publication in 1752. The use of the word philosophical in the title refers to natural philosophy, which was the equivalent of what would now be generally called science. == Current publication == In 1887 the journal expanded and divided into two separate publications, one serving the physical sciences (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences) and the other focusing on the life sciences (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences). Both journals now publish themed issues and issues resulting from papers presented at the scientific meetings of the Royal Society. Primary research articles are published in the sister journals Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biology Letters, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Interface Focus, Open Biology and Royal Society Open Science. == Origins and history == === Origins ===


id: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society-1.md
category: reference
title: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:24.607649+00:00
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parent: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-0
summary:
[24 November 1664] "We must be very careful as well of regist'ring the person and time of any new matter, as the matter itselfe, whereby the honor of the invention will be reliably preserved to all posterity" (registration and archiving) [3 December 1664] "...all ingenious men will thereby be incouraged to impact their knowledge and discoverys" (dissemination) The council minutes of 1 March 1665 made provisions for the tract to be revised by members of the council of the Royal Society, providing the framework for peer review to eventually develop, becoming fully systematic as a process by the 1830s. The printed journal replaced much of Oldenburg's letter-writing to correspondents, at least on scientific matters, and as such can be seen as a labour-saving device. Oldenburg also described his journal as "one of these philosophical commonplace books", indicating his intention to produce a collective notebook between scientists. Over the years the form of the contributions to the journal evolved as part of the changing expectations for persuasive scientific claims and the changing roles of scientists with respect to publication. Issue 1 contained such articles as: an account of the improvement of optic glasses; the first report on the Great Red Spot


id: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society-2.md
category: reference
title: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:24.607649+00:00
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parent: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-0
summary:
By the mid-eighteenth century, the most notable editors, besides Oldenburg, were Hans Sloane, James Jurin and Cromwell Mortimer. In virtually all cases the journal was edited by the serving secretary of the society (and occasionally by both secretaries working in tandem). These editor-secretaries carried the financial burden of publishing the Philosophical Transactions. By the early 1750s, the Philosophical Transactions had come under attack, most prominently by John Hill, an actor, apothecary, and naturalist. Hill published three works in two years, ridiculing the Royal Society and the Philosophical Transactions. The society was quick to point out that it was not officially responsible for the journal. Yet, in 1752 the society took over the Philosophical Transactions. The journal would henceforth be published "for the sole use and benefit of this Society"; it would be financially carried by the members' subscriptions; and it would be edited by the Committee of Papers. After the takeover of the journal by the Royal Society, management decisions including negotiating with printers and booksellers, were still the task of one of the secretaries—but editorial control was exercised through the Committee of Papers. The committee mostly based its judgements on which papers to publish and which to decline on


id: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society-3.md
category: reference
title: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:24.607649+00:00
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parent: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-0
summary:
While expenditure was a worry for the treasurer, as secretary (from 1854), George Gabriel Stokes was preoccupied with the actual content of the Transactions and his extensive correspondence with authors over his thirty-one-year term. He took up most of his time beyond his duties as Lucasian Professor at Cambridge. Stokes was paramount in establishing a more formalized refereeing process at the Royal Society. It was not until Stokes' presidency ended in 1890 that his influence over the journal diminished. The introduction of fixed terms for society officers precluded subsequent editors from taking on Stokes' mantle and meant that the society operated its editorial practices more collectively than it had done since the mechanisms for it were established in 1752. By the mid-nineteenth century, getting a paper published in the Transactions still relied on the paper first being read by a Fellow. Many papers were sent immediately for printing in abstract form in Proceedings of the Royal Society. But those which were being considered for printing in full in Transactions were usually sent to two referees for comment before the final decision was made by the Committee of Papers. During Stokes' time, authors were given the opportunity to discuss their paper


id: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society-4.md
category: reference
title: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:24.607649+00:00
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parent: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-0
summary:
=== Twentieth century === Authors were increasingly expected to submit manuscripts in a standardized format and style. From 1896, they were encouraged to submit typed papers on foolscap-folio-sized paper to lighten the work of getting papers ready for printing and to reduce the chance of error in the process. A publishable paper now had to present its information in an appropriate manner, as well as being of remarkable scientific interest. For a brief period between 1907 and 1914, authors were under even more pressure to conform to the society's expectations, due to a decision to discuss cost estimates of candidate papers alongside referees' reports. The committees could require authors to reduce the number of illustrations or tables or, indeed, the overall length of the paper, as a condition of acceptance. It was hoped that this policy would reduce the still-rising costs of production, which had reached £1747 in 1906; but the effect appears to have been negligible, and the cost estimates ceased to be routine practice after 1914. It was only after the Second World War that the society's concerns about the cost of its journals were finally allayed. There had been a one-off surplus in 1932, but it was


id: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society-5.md
category: reference
title: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:24.607649+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophical-transactions-of-the-royal-society-20260505-0
summary:
Had I been a literary man I might, perhaps, have moralised upon the futility of all ambition. But as it was, the thing that struck me with keenest force was the enormous waste of labour to which this sombre wilderness of rotting paper testified. At the time I will confess that I thought chiefly of the Philosophical Transactions and my own seventeen papers upon physical optics. == See also == Journal des sçavans: the first academic journal (started two months earlier than the present one), although it is not the longest-running journal because publication was interrupted for 24 years (between 1792 and 1816); it published some science, but also contained subject matter from other fields of learning, and its main content type was book reviews. == References == == Further reading == Fyfe, Aileen; Moxham, Noah; McDougall-Waters, Julie; Mørk Røstvik, Camilla (2022). A History of Scientific Journals: Publishing at the Royal Society, 1665–2015. UCL Press. doi:10.14324/111.9781800082328. hdl:2164/20277. ISBN 978-1-800-08232-8. S2CID 252484153. == External links == Official website ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 1–177 (1665–1886), and index of vol. 1–70 (1665–1780) in Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society at the HathiTrust Digital Library List of


id: philosophy-of-motion-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_motion-0.md
category: reference
title: Philosophy of motion
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_motion
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:25.798268+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophy-of-motion-20260505-0
summary:
Philosophy of motion is a branch of philosophy concerned with exploring questions on the existence and nature of motion. The central questions of this study concern the epistemology and ontology of motion, whether motion exists as we perceive it, what is it, and, if it exists, how does it occur. The philosophy of motion is important in the study of theories of change in natural systems and is closely connected to studies of space and time in philosophy. The philosophy of motion was of central concern to Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, particularly the pre-Socratic philosophers such as Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Heraclitus and Democritus. As such, it was influential in the development of the philosophy of science in general. == Early history == === Greek physiology === The concept of motion is closely related to the idea of change, and it is arguments about what made change possible that led the early Greek philosophers to pioneer naturalistic explanations for phenomena. Heraclitus (born circa 535 BC) had famously declared that "all things are in motion like a stream". ==== Motion only a perception ==== Parmenides (born circa 475 BC) and his followers held that motion is only perceived but cannot


id: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time-0.md
category: reference
title: Philosophy of space and time
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:26.993190+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-0
summary:
The philosophy of space and time is a branch of philosophy concerned with ideas about knowledge and understanding within space and time. Such ideas have been central to philosophy from its inception. The philosophy of space and time was both an inspiration for and a central aspect of early analytic philosophy. The subject focuses on a number of basic issues, including whether time and space exist independently of the mind, whether they exist independently of one another, what accounts for time's apparently unidirectional flow, whether times other than the present moment exist, and questions about the nature of identity (particularly the nature of identity over time). == Ancient and medieval views == The earliest recorded philosophy of time was expounded by the ancient Egyptian thinker Ptahhotep (c. 2650–2600 BC), who said: Follow your desire as long as you live, and do not perform more than is ordered, do not lessen the time of the following desire, for the wasting of time is an abomination to the spirit... The Vedas, the earliest texts on Indian philosophy and Hindu philosophy, dating back to the late 2nd millennium BC, describe ancient Hindu cosmology, in which the universe goes through repeated cycles of creation,


id: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time-1.md
category: reference
title: Philosophy of space and time
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:26.993190+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-0
summary:
=== Leibniz and Newton === The great debate between defining notions of space and time as real objects themselves (absolute), or mere orderings upon actual objects (relational), began between physicists Isaac Newton (via his spokesman, Samuel Clarke) and Gottfried Leibniz in the papers of the Leibniz–Clarke correspondence. Arguing against the absolutist position, Leibniz offers a number of thought experiments with the purpose of showing that there is contradiction in assuming the existence of facts such as absolute location and velocity. These arguments trade heavily on two principles central to his philosophy: the principle of sufficient reason and the identity of indiscernibles. The principle of sufficient reason holds that for every fact, there is a reason that is sufficient to explain what and why it is the way it is and not otherwise. The identity of indiscernibles states that if there is no way of telling two entities apart, then they are one and the same thing. The example Leibniz uses involves two proposed universes situated in absolute space. The only discernible difference between them is that the latter is positioned five feet to the left of the first. The example is only possible if such a thing as absolute space


id: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time-2.md
category: reference
title: Philosophy of space and time
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:26.993190+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-0
summary:
=== Einstein === Albert Einstein proposed that the laws of physics should be based on the principle of relativity. This principle holds that the rules of physics must be the same for all observers, regardless of the frame of reference that is used, and that light propagates at the same speed in all reference frames. This theory was motivated by Maxwell's equations, which show that electromagnetic waves propagate in a vacuum at the speed of light. However, Maxwell's equations give no indication of what this speed is relative to. Prior to Einstein, it was thought that this speed was relative to a fixed medium, called the luminiferous ether. In contrast, the theory of special relativity postulates that light propagates at the speed of light in all inertial frames, and examines the implications of this postulate. All attempts to measure any speed relative to this ether failed, which can be seen as a confirmation of Einstein's postulate that light propagates at the same speed in all reference frames. Special relativity is a formalization of the principle of relativity that does not contain a privileged inertial frame of reference, such as the luminiferous ether or absolute space, from which Einstein inferred that


id: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time-3.md
category: reference
title: Philosophy of space and time
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:26.993190+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-0
summary:
=== Relativity of simultaneity === According to special relativity, different inertial observers will call different sets of events simultaneous from one another and they will both be right relative to their inertial frame of reference. That is, for example, while observer A may say that events E1 and E2 are simultaneous, another observer B, that's moving in uniform motion relative to observer A, will say that the two events are not simultaneous. This phenomena, known as relativity of simultaneity, has been used to support the metaphysical view known as eternalism and as an objection against presentism. Eternalists maintain that all events in the present, past, and future are, in a sense, ontologically, on a par. This is to say that present events have no privileged existence as compared to events in the past and future. Presentists, on the other hand, maintain that events in the present have a privileged existence (some even maintain that past and future events don't exist). The relativity of simultaneity has been used in the dialectic against presentists because it's hard to see which observer's present could be the one with privileged existence if special relativity says that all inertial frames of reference are on a


id: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time-4.md
category: reference
title: Philosophy of space and time
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:26.993190+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-0
summary:
=== Thermodynamics solution === The second major family of solutions to this problem, and by far the one that has generated the most literature, finds the existence of the direction of time as relating to the nature of thermodynamics. The answer from classical thermodynamics states that while our basic physical theory is, in fact, time-reversal symmetric, thermodynamics is not. In particular, the second law of thermodynamics states that the net entropy of a closed system never decreases, and this explains why we often see glass breaking, but not coming back together. But in statistical mechanics things become more complicated. On one hand, statistical mechanics is far superior to classical thermodynamics, in that thermodynamic behavior, such as glass breaking, can be explained by the fundamental laws of physics paired with a statistical postulate. But statistical mechanics, unlike classical thermodynamics, is time-reversal symmetric. The second law of thermodynamics, as it arises in statistical mechanics, merely states that it is overwhelmingly likely that net entropy will increase, but it is not an absolute law. Current thermodynamic solutions to the problem of the direction of time aim to find some further fact, or feature of the laws of nature to account for this discrepancy.


id: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time-5.md
category: reference
title: Philosophy of space and time
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:26.993190+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: philosophy-of-space-and-time-20260505-0
summary:
The positions on the persistence of objects are somewhat similar. An endurantist holds that for an object to persist through time is for it to exist completely at different times (each instance of existence we can regard as somehow separate from previous and future instances, though still numerically identical with them). A perdurantist on the other hand holds that for a thing to exist through time is for it to exist as a continuous reality, and that when we consider the thing as a whole we must consider an aggregate of all its "temporal parts" or instances of existing. Endurantism is seen as the conventional view and flows out of our pre-philosophical ideas (when I talk to somebody I think I am talking to that person as a complete object, and not just a part of a cross-temporal being), but perdurantists such as David Lewis have attacked this position. They argue that perdurantism is the superior view for its ability to take account of change in objects. On the whole, Presentists are also endurantists and Eternalists are also perdurantists (and vice versa), but this is not a necessary relation and it is possible to claim, for instance, that time's passage


id: principles-of-philosophy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principles_of_Philosophy-0.md
category: reference
title: Principles of Philosophy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principles_of_Philosophy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:28.192005+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: principles-of-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
Principles of Philosophy (Latin: Principia Philosophiae) is a book by the French philosopher and scientist René Descartes. In essence, it is a synthesis of the Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. It was written in Latin, published in 1644 and dedicated to Elisabeth of Bohemia, with whom Descartes had a long-standing friendship. A French version (Les Principes de la Philosophie) followed in 1647. The book sets forth the principles of nature—the laws of physics—as Descartes viewed them. Most notably, it set forth the principle that in the absence of external forces, an object's motion will be uniform and in a straight line. Isaac Newton borrowed this principle from Descartes and included it in his own Principia; to this day, it is still generally referred to as Newton's first law of motion. The book was primarily intended to replace the Aristotelian curriculum then used in French and British universities. The work provides a systematic statement of his metaphysics and natural philosophy, and represents the first truly comprehensive, mechanistic account of the universe. == Contents == === Preface to the French edition === Descartes asked Abbot Claude Picot to translate his Latin Principia Philosophiae into French. For this edition, he


id: professor-of-natural-philosophy-glasgow-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_of_Natural_Philosophy_(Glasgow)-0.md
category: reference
title: Professor of Natural Philosophy (Glasgow)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_of_Natural_Philosophy_(Glasgow)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:29.351370+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: professor-of-natural-philosophy-glasgow-20260505-0
summary:
The Chair of Natural Philosophy is a professorship at the University of Glasgow, in Scotland, which was established in 1727 The Nova Erectio of King James VI of Scotland shared the teaching of moral philosophy, logic and natural philosophy among the regents. In 1727 separate chairs were instituted. In 1986, the departments of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy were merged and formed the new department of Physics and Astronomy. In 2024, Miles Padgett holds the Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. == Professors of natural philosophy == Robert Dick Snr MA MD (1727) Robert Dick Jnr MA MD (1751) John Anderson MA (1757) James Brown MA MD (1796) William Meikleham MA LLD (1803) William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin of Largs GCVO MA DCL LLD FRS (1846) Andrew Gray MA LLD FRS (1899) Harold Albert Wilson MA DSc FRS (1924) Edward Taylor Jones DSc LLD (1926) Philip Ivor Dee CBE MA FRS Robert Patton Ferrier BSc MA PhD FRSE (1973) == See also == List of Professorships at the University of Glasgow == References ==


id: st-irvyne-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Irvyne-0.md
category: reference
title: St. Irvyne
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Irvyne
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:30.520685+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: st-irvyne-20260505-0
summary:
St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance is a Gothic horror novella written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1810 and published by John Joseph Stockdale in December of that year, dated 1811, in London anonymously as "by a Gentleman of the University of Oxford" while the author was an undergraduate. The main character is Wolfstein, a solitary wanderer, who encounters Ginotti, an alchemist of the Rosicrucian or Rose Cross Order who seeks to impart the secret of immortality. The book was reprinted in 1822 by Stockdale and in 1840 in The Romancist and the Novelist's Library: The Best Works of the Best Authors, Vol. III, edited by William Hazlitt. The novella was a follow-up to Shelley's first prose work, Zastrozzi, published earlier in 1810. St. Irvyne was republished in 1986 by Oxford University Press as part of the World's Classics series along with Zastrozzi and in 2002 by Broadview Press. Nicole Berry translated the novel in a French edition in 1999. A Spanish edition entitled St. Irvyne o el Rosacruz, translated by Gregorio Cantera Chamorro, was published by Celeste in Madrid in 2002 with an introduction and notes by Roberto Cueto. The book was translated into Swedish by KG Johansson


id: st-irvyne-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Irvyne-1.md
category: reference
title: St. Irvyne
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Irvyne
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:30.520685+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: st-irvyne-20260505-0
summary:
== The Wolfstein Chapbooks == The novel was popular enough, however, to be made into two chapbooks in 1822 and 1850. The first chapbook version was entitled Wolfstein; or, The Mysterious Bandit and was published and printed by John Bailey at 116, Chancery Lane in London in 1822 after the original novel was republished that year. The chapbook version was a condensed version of the novella in 28 pages meant for popular consumption, serving the same function as a paperback would. The chapbook sold for sixpence. The story is described on the title page as "A Terrific Romance" with an epigraph by Ossian: "A tale of horror, of murder, and of deeds done in darkness." Added to Wolfstein was the story The Bronze Statue, A Pathetic Tale by another author, Anna Jane Vardill. "The Bronze Statue" had appeared for the first time in print as part of the "Annals of Public Justice" in The European Magazine of May, 1820, signed "V", i.e., Anna Jane Vardill. Another more condensed twelve page chapbook was published in 1850 by Thomas Redriffe in London entitled Wolfstein, The Murderer; or, The Secrets of a Robber's Cave: A Terrific Romance. To which is Added, The Two


id: st-irvyne-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Irvyne-2.md
category: reference
title: St. Irvyne
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Irvyne
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:30.520685+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: st-irvyne-20260505-0
summary:
== Sources == Sandy, Mark. "St Irvyne or the Rosicrucian". The Literary Encyclopedia. 20 September 2002, accessed 12 April 2009. Behrendt, Stephen C. Edited by, with Introduction, and notes. Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne. Peterborough, ON, Canada: Broadview Press, 2002. Antippas, Andy P. "The Structure of Shelley's St. Irvyne: Parallelism and the Gothic Mode of Evil." Boyette, Purvis E., editor. Tulane Studies In English, Vol. 18, New Orleans, Tulane University, 1970. de Hart, Scott D. Shelly Unbound: Uncovering Frankenstein's True Creator. Port Townsend, WA, U.S.: Feral House, 2013. Finch, Peter. (1999). "Monstrous Inheritance: The Sexual Politics of Genre in Shelley's St.Irvyne." Keats-Shelley Journal: Keats, Shelley, Byron, Hunt, and Their Circles, 48, pp. 35–68. Frigo, Gabriele. "St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian: Shelley davvero rosacrociano ad Oxford––1810-11?" Quadernede de Lingue e Letterature, 9 (1984): 33-35. Grande, James. "The Original Frankenstein, By Mary Shelley with Percy Shelley, ed. Charles E. Robinson: To what extent did Percy Bysshe Shelley work on 'Frankenstein'? A new analysis reveals all." The Independent, Sunday, 16 November 2008. Halliburton, David G. "Shelley's" Gothic" Novels." Keats-Shelley Journal 16 (1967): 39-49. Hogle, Jerrold E. "Shelley's Fiction: 'The Stream of Fate'." Keats-Shelley Journal: Keats, Shelley, Byron, Hunt, and Their Circles, 30 (1981), pp.


id: school-of-naturalists-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Naturalists-0.md
category: reference
title: School of Naturalists
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Naturalists
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:31.724041+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: school-of-naturalists-20260505-0
summary:
The School of Naturalists or the School of Yin-Yang (simplified Chinese: 阴阳家; traditional Chinese: 陰陽家; pinyin: Yīnyángjiā; Wade–Giles: Yin-yang-chia; lit. 'School of Yin-Yang') was a Warring States-era philosophy that synthesized the concepts of yin-yang and the Five Elements. It was one of the Nine Schools of Thought. == History == The School of Naturalists did not have any one ethos and came from separate schools. K.C. Hsiao believed that they were an off-shoot of Confucianism, but the discovery of the Mawangdui Silk Texts includes various Daoistic texts. == Overview == Chinese philosopher Zou Yan (鄒衍; 305 – 240 BCE) is considered the founder of the school, and is the best known as the representative thinker of the Yin and Yang School (or School of Naturalists) during the Hundred Schools of Thought era in Chinese philosophy. Zou Yan was a noted scholar of the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi. Joseph Needham, a British biochemist and sinologist, describes Zou as "The real founder of all Chinese scientific thought." His teachings combined and systematized two current theories during the Warring States period: Yin-Yang and the Five Elements/Phases (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth). His theory attempted to explain the universe in


id: secreta-mulierum-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secreta_mulierum-0.md
category: reference
title: Secreta mulierum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secreta_mulierum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:32.900002+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: secreta-mulierum-20260505-0
summary:
Secreta mulierum, also known as De secretis mulierum, is a natural philosophical text from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century frequently attributed to Albertus Magnus, although it is more likely written by one of his followers. Originally written in Latin, the title translates as The Secrets of Women or Of the Secrets of Women. Drawing on Hippocratic, Galenic, and Aristotelian theories, this text discusses sexuality and reproduction from both a medical and philosophical perspective. Over eighty manuscript copies of the treatise have been identified, and it has been translated into multiple different languages over several centuries. This suggests that the ideas expressed in this work were hugely popular and influential. It was added to the Index librorum prohibitorum in 1605. == Contents == Owing to both the medical and philosophical nature of the text, a variety of topics are discussed by pseudo-Albert. While some of the thirteen chapters are strictly medical, such as those on the signs of conception, the period of gestation, and the nature of the menses, others are largely theoretical. For example, the author discusses at length how the planets and constellations can affect a developing fetus. It can come as no surprise that the author's


id: theory-of-impetus-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus-0.md
category: reference
title: Theory of impetus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:34.034566+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-impetus-20260505-0
summary:
The theory of impetus, developed in the Middle Ages, attempts to explain the forced motion of a body, what it is, and how it comes about or ceases. In ancient and medieval times, motion was always considered absolute, relative to the Earth as the center of the universe. The theory of impetus is an auxiliary or secondary theory of Aristotelian dynamics, put forth initially to explain projectile motion against gravity. Aristotelian dynamics of forced (in antiquity called "unnatural") motion states that a body (without a moving soul) only moves when an external force is constantly driving it. The greater the force acting, the proportionally greater the speed of the body. If the force stops acting, the body immediately returns to the natural state of rest. As we know today, this idea is wrong. It also states—as clearly formulated by John of Jadun in his work Quaestiones super 8 libros Physicorum Aristotelis that not only motion but also force is transmitted to the medium, such that this force propagates continuously from layer to layer of air, becoming weaker and weaker until it finally dies out. This is how the body finally comes to rest. Although the medieval philosophers, beginning with John


id: theory-of-impetus-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus-1.md
category: reference
title: Theory of impetus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:34.034566+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-impetus-20260505-0
summary:
== Philoponan theory == In the 6th century, John Philoponus partly accepted Aristotle's theory that "continuation of motion depends on continued action of a force," but modified it to include his idea that the hurled body acquires a motive power or inclination for forced movement from the agent producing the initial motion and that this power secures the continuation of such motion. However, he argued that this impressed virtue was temporary: that it was a self-expending inclination, and thus the violent motion produced comes to an end, changing back into natural motion. In his book On Aristotle Physics 641, 12; 641, 29; 642, 9 Philoponus first argues explicitly against Aristotle's explanation that a thrown stone, after leaving the hand, cannot be propelled any further by the air behind it. Then he continues: "Instead, some immaterial kinetic force must be imparted to the projectile by the thrower. Whereby the pushed air contributes either nothing or only very little to this motion. But if moving bodies are necessarily moved in this way, it is clear that the same process will take place much more easily if an arrow or a stone is thrown necessarily and against its tendency into empty space, and


id: theory-of-impetus-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus-2.md
category: reference
title: Theory of impetus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:34.034566+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-impetus-20260505-0
summary:
== Arabic theories == In the 12th century, Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi adopted Philoponus' theory of impetus. In his Kitab al-Mu'tabar, Abu'l-Barakat stated that the mover imparts a violent inclination (mayl qasri) on the moved and that this diminishes as the moving object distances itself from the mover. Like Philoponus, and unlike Ibn Sina, al-Baghdaadi believed that the mayl self-extinguishes itself. He also proposed an explanation of the acceleration of falling bodies where "one mayl after another" is successively applied, because it is the falling body itself which provides the mayl, as opposed to shooting a bow, where only one violent mayl is applied. According to Shlomo Pines, al-Baghdaadi's theory was the oldest negation of Aristotle's fundamental dynamic law [namely, that a constant force produces a uniform motion], [and is thus an] anticipation in a vague fashion of the fundamental law of classical mechanics [namely, that a force applied continuously produces acceleration]. Jean Buridan and Albert of Saxony later refer to Abu'l-Barakat in explaining that the acceleration of a falling body is a result of its increasing impetus. == Buridanist impetus == In the 14th century, Jean Buridan postulated the notion of motive force, which he named impetus. When a


id: theory-of-impetus-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus-3.md
category: reference
title: Theory of impetus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:34.034566+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-impetus-20260505-0
summary:
God, when He created the world, moved each of the celestial orbs as He pleased, and in moving them he impressed in them impetuses which moved them without his having to move them any more...And those impetuses which he impressed in the celestial bodies were not decreased or corrupted afterwards, because there was no inclination of the celestial bodies for other movements. Nor was there resistance which would be corruptive or repressive of that impetus. However, by discounting the possibility of any resistance either due to a contrary inclination to move in any opposite direction or due to any external resistance, he concluded their impetus was therefore not corrupted by any resistance. Buridan also discounted any inherent resistance to motion in the form of an inclination to rest within the spheres themselves, such as the inertia posited by Averroes and Aquinas. For otherwise that resistance would destroy their impetus, as the anti-Duhemian historian of science Annaliese Maier maintained the Parisian impetus dynamicists were forced to conclude because of their belief in an inherent inclinatio ad quietem or inertia in all bodies. This raised the question of why the motive force of impetus does not therefore move the spheres with infinite


id: theory-of-impetus-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus-4.md
category: reference
title: Theory of impetus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:34.034566+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-impetus-20260505-0
summary:
The heavy falling body acquires sufficient impetus [in falling from a given height] to carry it back to an equal height. This imaginary experiment predicted that a cannonball dropped down a tunnel going straight through the Earth's centre and out the other side would pass the centre and rise on the opposite surface to the same height from which it had first fallen, driven upwards by the gravitationally created impetus it had continually accumulated in falling to the centre. This impetus would require a violent motion correspondingly rising to the same height past the centre for the now opposing force of gravity to destroy it all in the same distance which it had previously required to create it. At this turning point the ball would then descend again and oscillate back and forth between the two opposing surfaces about the centre infinitely in principle. The tunnel experiment provided the first dynamical model of oscillatory motion, specifically in terms of A-B impetus dynamics. This thought-experiment was then applied to the dynamical explanation of a real world oscillatory motion, namely that of the pendulum. The oscillating motion of the cannonball was compared to the motion of a pendulum bob by imagining it


id: theory-of-impetus-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus-5.md
category: reference
title: Theory of impetus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_impetus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:34.034566+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-impetus-20260505-0
summary:
... [Any] portion of corporeal matter which moves by itself when an impetus has been impressed on it by any external motive force has a natural tendency to move on a rectilinear, not a curved, path. Benedetti cites the motion of a rock in a sling as an example of the inherent linear motion of objects, forced into circular motion. == See also == Conatus Physics in the medieval Islamic world History of science == References and footnotes == == Bibliography == Clagett, Marshall (1959). Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages. University of Wisconsin Press. Crombie, Alistair Cameron (1959). The History of Science From Augustine to Galileo. Dover Publications. ISBN 9780486288505. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Duhem, Pierre. [1906–13]: Etudes sur Leonard de Vinci Duhem, Pierre, History of Physics, Section IX, XVI and XVII in The Catholic Encyclopedia[1] Drake, Stillman; Drabkin, I. E. (1969). Mechanics in Sixteenth Century Italy. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9781101203736. Galilei, Galileo (1590). De Motu. translated in On Motion and on Mechanics. Drabkin & Drake. Galilei, Galileo (1953). Dialogo. Translated by Stillman Drake. University of California Press. Galilei, Galileo (1974). Discorsi. Translated by Stillman Drake. Grant, Edward (1996). The Foundations of Modern


id: vis-medicatrix-naturae-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vis_medicatrix_naturae-0.md
category: reference
title: Vis medicatrix naturae
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vis_medicatrix_naturae
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:36.479442+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vis-medicatrix-naturae-20260505-0
summary:
Vis medicatrix naturae (lit. 'the healing power of nature'; also known as natura medica) is the Latin rendering of the Greek Νόσων φύσεις ἰητροί ('Nature is the physician of diseases'), a phrase attributed to Hippocrates. While the phrase is not actually attested in his corpus, it nevertheless sums up one of the guiding principles of Hippocratic medicine, which is that organisms left alone can often heal themselves (cf. the Hippocratic primum non nocere). == Hippocrates == Hippocrates believed that an organism is not passive to injuries or disease, but rebalances itself to counteract them. The state of illness, therefore, is not a malady but an effort of the body to overcome a disturbed equilibrium. It is this capacity of organisms to correct imbalances that distinguishes them from non-living matter. From this follows the medical approach that “nature is the best physician” or “nature is the healer of disease”. To do this Hippocrates considered a doctor's chief aim was to help this natural tendency of the body by observing its action, removing obstacles to its action, and thus allow an organism to recover its own health. This underlies such Hippocratic practices as blood letting in which a perceived excess of a


id: vis-viva-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vis_viva-0.md
category: reference
title: Vis viva
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vis_viva
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:37.630222+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vis-viva-20260505-0
summary:
Vis viva (from the Latin for "living force") is a historical term used to describe a quantity similar to kinetic energy in an early formulation of the principle of conservation of energy. == Overview == Proposed by Gottfried Leibniz over the period 1676–1689, the theory was controversial as it seemed to oppose the theory of conservation of quantity of motion advocated by René Descartes. Descartes' quantity of motion was different from momentum, but Newton defined the quantity of motion as the conjunction of the quantity of matter and velocity in Definition II of his Principia. In Definition III, he defined the force that resists a change in motion as the vis inertia of Descartes. Newton's third law of motion (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) is also equivalent to the principle of conservation of momentum. Leibniz accepted the principle of conservation of momentum, but rejected the Cartesian version of it. The difference between these ideas was whether the quantity of motion was simply related to a body's resistance to a change in velocity (vis inertia) or whether a body's amount of force due to its motion (vis viva) was related to the square of its velocity.


id: vitality-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality-0.md
category: reference
title: Vitality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:38.783384+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vitality-20260505-0
summary:
Vitality (from Middle French vitalité, from Latin vītālitās, from Latin vīta 'life') is the capacity to live, grow, or develop. Vitality is also the characteristic that distinguishes living from non-living things. To experience vitality is regarded as a basic psychological drive and, in philosophy, a component to the will to live. As such, people seek to maximize their vitality or their experience of vitality—that which corresponds to an enhanced physiological capacity and mental state. == Overview == The pursuit and maintenance of health and vitality have been at the forefront of medicine and natural philosophy throughout history. Life depends upon various biological processes known as vital processes. Historically, these vital processes have been viewed as having either mechanistic or non-mechanistic causes. The latter point of view is characteristic of vitalism, the doctrine that the phenomena of life cannot be explained by purely chemical and physical mechanisms. Prior to the 19th century, theoreticians often held that human lifespan had been less limited in the past, and that aging was due to a loss of, and failure to maintain, vitality. A commonly held view was that people are born with finite vitality, which diminishes over time until illness and debility set in,


id: wolfstein-the-murderer-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfstein,_the_Murderer-0.md
category: reference
title: Wolfstein, the Murderer
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfstein,_the_Murderer
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:39.939727+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: wolfstein-the-murderer-20260505-0
summary:
Wolfstein, the Murderer; or, The Secrets of a Robber's Cave is an 1850 chapbook based on Percy Bysshe Shelley’s 1811 Gothic horror novel St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian. == Background == The 1811 novel St. Irvyne, or, The Rosicrucian was republished by John Joseph Stockdale in 1822 following Shelley’s death. Two chapbooks were also published based on the novel. No publication date appeared on the title page. The first chapbook version was entitled Wolfstein; or, The Mysterious Bandit and was published and printed by John Bailey at 116, Chancery Lane in London in 1822. The chapbook was a condensed version of the novel in 20 pages. The total length was 28 pages including the second story. Chapbooks were meant for popular consumption, serving the same function as a paperback would. The chapbook sold for sixpence. Another more condensed twelve-page chapbook was published in 1850 by Thomas Redriffe in London entitled Wolfstein, the Murderer; or, The Secrets of a Robber's Cave: A Terrific Romance. To which is Added, The Two Serpents, an Oriental Apologue. The Ossian epigraph appeared on the title page: "A tale of horror, of murder, and of deeds done in darkness." Printed for Thomas Redriffe, Piccadilly. The price


id: the-world-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: The World (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:41.137887+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-world-book-20260505-0
summary:
The World, also called Treatise on the Light (French title: Traité du monde et de la lumière), is a book by René Descartes (1596–1650). Written between 1629 and 1633, it contains a nearly complete version of his philosophy, from method, to metaphysics, to physics and biology. Descartes espoused mechanical philosophy, a form of natural philosophy popular in the 17th century. He thought everything physical in the universe to be made of tiny "corpuscles" of matter. Corpuscularianism is closely related to atomism. The main difference was that Descartes maintained that there could be no vacuum, and all matter was constantly swirling to prevent a void as corpuscles moved through other matter. The World presents a corpuscularian cosmology in which swirling vortices explain, among other phenomena, the creation of the Solar System and the circular motion of planets around the Sun. The World rests on the heliocentric view, first explicated in Western Europe by Copernicus. Descartes delayed the book's release upon news of the Roman Inquisition's conviction of Galileo for "suspicion of heresy" and sentencing to house arrest. Descartes discussed his work on the book, and his decision not to release it, in letters with another philosopher, Marin Mersenne. Some material from


id: the-world-book-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(book)-1.md
category: reference
title: The World (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:41.137887+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-world-book-20260505-0
summary:
Descartes elaborates on how the universe could have started from utter chaos and with these basic laws could have had its particles arranged so as to resemble the universe we observe today. Once the particles in the chaotic universe began to move, the overall motion would have been circular because there is no void in nature, so whenever a single particle moves, another particle must also move to occupy the space where the previous particle once was. This type of circular motion, or vortex, would have created what Descartes observed to be the orbits of the planets about the Sun with the heavier objects spinning out towards the outside of the vortex and the lighter objects remaining closer to the center. To explain this, Descartes used the analogy of a river that carried both floating debris (leaves, feathers, etc.) and heavy boats. If the river abruptly arrived at a sharp bend, the boats would follow Descartes third law of motion and hit the shore of the river since the flow of the particles in the river would not have enough force to change the direction of the boat. However, the much lighter floating debris would follow the river since the


id: adamic-language-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamic_language-0.md
category: reference
title: Adamic language
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamic_language
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:42.683318+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: adamic-language-20260505-0
summary:
The Adamic language, according to Abraham Abulafia and some Christians, is the language spoken by Adam (and possibly Eve) in the Garden of Eden. It is variously interpreted as either the language used by God to address Adam (the divine language), or the language invented by Adam with which he named all things (including Eve), as in the second Genesis creation narrative (Genesis 2:19). In the Middle Ages, various Jewish commentators held that Adam spoke Hebrew, a view also addressed in various ways by the late medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri. In the early modern period, some authors continued to discuss the possibility of an Adamic language, some continuing to hold to the idea that it was Hebrew, while others such as John Locke were more skeptical. According to Ethiopian and Eritrean traditions, the ancient Semitic language of Geʽez is the language of Adam, the first and original language. More recently, a variety of Mormon authors have expressed various opinions about the nature of the Adamic language. == Patristic period == Augustine addresses the issue in The City of God. While not explicit, the implication of there being but one human language prior to the Tower of Babel's collapse is


id: adamic-language-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamic_language-1.md
category: reference
title: Adamic language
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adamic_language
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:42.683318+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: adamic-language-20260505-0
summary:
=== Latter Day Saint movement === Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, in his revision of the Bible, declared the Adamic language to have been "pure and undefiled". Some Mormons believe it to be the language of God. Glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, was commonplace in the early years of the movement, and it was commonly believed that the incomprehensible language spoken during these incidents was the language of Adam. However, this belief seems to have never been formally or officially adopted. Some other early Latter Day Saint leaders, including Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and Elizabeth Ann Whitney, claimed to have received several words in the Adamic language by revelation. Some Latter Day Saints believe that the Adamic language is the "pure language" spoken of by Zephaniah and that it will be restored as the universal language of humankind at the end of the world. Apostle Orson Pratt declared that "Ahman", part of the name of the settlement "Adam-ondi-Ahman" in Daviess County, Missouri, was the name of God in the Adamic language. An 1832 handwritten page from the Joseph Smith Papers, titled "A Sample of the Pure Language", and reportedly dictated by Smith to "Br. Johnson", asserts


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-0.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
The cosmology of the ancient Near East refers to beliefs about where the universe came from, how it developed, and its physical layout, in the ancient Near East, an area that corresponds with the Middle East today (including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, the Levant, Anatolia, and the Arabian Peninsula). The basic understanding of the world in this region from premodern times included a flat earth, a solid layer or barrier above the sky (the firmament), a cosmic ocean located above the firmament, a region above the cosmic ocean where the gods lived, and a netherworld located at the furthest region in the direction down. Creation myths explained where the universe came from, including which gods created it (and how), as well as how humanity was created. These beliefs are attested as early as the fourth millennium BC and dominated until the modern era, with the only major competing system being the Hellenistic cosmology that developed in Ancient Greece in the mid-1st millennium BC. Geographically, these views are known from the Mesopotamian cosmologies from Babylonia, Sumer, and Akkad; the Levantine or West Semitic cosmologies from Ugarit and ancient Israel and Judah (the biblical cosmology); the Egyptian cosmology from Ancient Egypt; and the


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-1.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
==== Terminology ==== There were many ways to speak about or refer to the totality of the world, equivalent to contemporary words like "cosmos" or "universe". This included phrases like "heaven and earth" or "heaven and underworld". Terms like "all" or "totality" similarly connoted the entire universe. These ideas are found in hymns and royal inscriptions found in temples. Temples symbolized cosmic structures that reached heaven at their height and the underworld at their depths/foundations. Surviving evidence does not specify the exact physical bounds of the cosmos or what lies beyond the region described in the texts. ==== Unity ==== Mythical bonds, akin to ropes or cables, played the role of cohesively holding the entire world and all its layers of heaven and Earth together. These are sometimes called the "bonds of heaven and earth". They can be referred to with terminology like durmāhu (typically referring to a strong rope made of reeds), markaṣu (referring to a rope or cable, of a boat, for example), or ṣerretu (lead-rope passed through an animals nose). A deity can hold these ropes as a symbol of their authority, such as the goddess Ishtar "who holds the connecting link of all heaven and earth


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-2.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
Some texts describe seven heavens and seven earths, but within the Mesopotamian context, this is likely to refer to a totality of the cosmos with some sort of magical or numerological significance, as opposed to a description of the structural number of heavens and Earth. Israelite texts do not mention the notion of seven heavens or earths. === Firmament === The firmament was believed to be a solid boundary above the Earth, separating it from the upper or celestial waters. In the Book of Genesis, it is called the raqia. In ancient Egyptian texts, and from texts across the Near East generally, the firmament was described as having special doors or gateways on the eastern and western horizons to allow for the passage of heavenly bodies during their daily journeys. These were known as the windows of heaven or the gates of heaven. Canaanite text describe Baal as exerting his control over the world by controlling the passage of rainwater through the heavenly windows in the firmament. In Egyptian texts particularly, these gates also served as conduits between the earthly and heavenly realms for which righteous people could ascend. The gateways could be blocked by gates to prevent entry by


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-3.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
According to iconographic and literary evidence, the cosmic mountain, known as Mashu in the Epic of Gilgamesh, was thought to be located at or extend to both the westernmost and easternmost points of the earth, where the sun could rise and set respectively. As such, the model may be called a bi-polar model of diurnal solar movement. The gates for the rising and setting of the sun were also located at Mashu. Some accounts have Mashu as a tree growing at the center of the earth with roots descending into the underworld and a peak reaching to heaven. The cosmic mountain is also found in Egyptian cosmology, as Pyramid Text 1040c says that the mountain ranges on the eastern and western sides of the Nile act as the "two supports of the sky." In the Baal Cycle, two cosmic mountains exist at the horizon acting as the point through which the sun rises from and sets into the underworld (Mot). The tradition of the twin cosmic mountains may also lie behind Zechariah 6:1. === Heavenly bodies === ==== Sun ==== The sun god (represented by the god Utu in Sumerian texts or Shamash in Akkadian texts) rises in the day


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-4.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
==== Moon ==== Mesopotamians believed the moon to be a manifestation of the moon god, known as Nanna in Sumerian texts or Sîn in Akkadian texts, a high god of the pantheon, subject to cultic devotion, and father of the sun god Shamash and the Venus god Inanna. The path of the moon in the night sky and its lunar phases were also of interest. At first, Mesopotamia had no common calendar, but around 2000 BC, the semi-lunar calendar of the Sumerian center of Nippur became increasingly prevalent. Hence, the moon god was responsible for ordering perceivable time. The lunar calendar was divided into twelve months of thirty days each. New months were marked by the appearance of the moon after a phase of invisibility. The Enuma Elish creation myth describes Marduk as arranging the paths of the stars and then spends considerable space on Marduk's ordering of the moon:12 He made Nannaru (=the moon-god) appear (and) entrusted the night to him. 13 He assigned him as the jewel of the night to determine the days. 14 Month by month without cease, he marked (him) with a crown: 15 “At the beginning of the month, while rising over the land,


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-5.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
Above the firmament was a large, cosmic body of water which may be referred to as the cosmic ocean or celestial waters. In the Tablet of Shamash, the throne of the sun god Shamash is depicted as resting above the cosmic ocean. The waters are above the solid firmament that covers the sky. In the Enuma Elish, the upper waters represented the waters of Tiamat, contained by Tiamat's stretched out skin. Canaanite mythology in the Baal Cycle describes the supreme god Baal as enthroned above the freshwater ocean. Egyptian texts depict the sun god sailing across these upper waters. Some also convey that this body of water is the heavenly equivalent of the Nile River. === Lower waters === Both Babylonian and Israelite texts describe one of the divisions of the cosmos as the underworldly ocean. In Babylonian texts, this is coincided with the region/god Abzu. In Sumerian mythology, this realm was created by Enki. It was also where Enki lived and ruled over. Due to the connection with Enki, the lower waters were associated with wisdom and incantational secret knowledge. In Egyptian mythology, the personification of this subterranean body of water was instead Nu. The notion of a cosmic


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-6.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Creation of the gods === The core Mesopotamian myth to explain the gods' origins begins with the primeval ocean, personified by Nammu, containing Father Sky and Mother Earth within her. In the god-list TCL XV 10, Nammu is called 'the mother, who gave birth to heaven and earth'. The conception of Nammu as mother of Sky-Earth is first attested in the Ur III period (early 2nd millennium BC), though it may go back to an earlier Akkadian era. Earlier in the 3rd millennium BC, the starting point was not Nammu, but just Sky and Earth, with little apparent question about their own origins. The representation of Sky as male and Earth as female may come from the analogy between the generative power of the male sperm and the rain that comes from the sky, which respectively fertilize the female to give rise to newborn life or the Earth to give rise to vegetation. In the desert-dweller milieu, life depended on pastureland. Sky and Earth are in a union. Because they are the opposite sex, they inevitably reproduce. Every generation of their offspring includes a pair of gods, and altogether, this successive pairs or generations of gods is known as


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-7.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Stretching out the heavens === The idiom of the heavens and earth being stretched out plays both a cultic and cosmic role in the Hebrew Bible where it appears repeatedly in the Book of Isaiah (40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13; 51:13, 16), with related expressions in the Book of Job (26:7) the Psalms (104:2), Jeremiah (10:12) and in Zechariah (12:1). One example reads "The one who stretched out the heavens like a curtain / And who spread them out like a tent to dwell in" (Is 40:22). The idiom is used in these texts to identify the creative element of Yahweh's activities and the expansion of the heavens signifies its vastness, acting as Yahweh's celestial shrine. In Psalmic tradition, the "stretching" of the heavens is analogous to the stretching out of a tent. The Hebrew verb for the "stretching" of the heavens is also the regular verb for "pitching" a tent. The heavens, in other words, may be depicted as a cosmic tent (a motif found in many ancient cultures). This finds architectural analogy in descriptions of the tabernacle, which is itself a heavenly archetype, over which a tent is supposed to have been spread. The phrase is frequently


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-8.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
The Enuma Elish is the most famous Mesopotamian creation story and was widely known in among learned circles across Mesopotamia, influencing both art and ritual. It is also the only complete cosmogony, whereas others must be reconstructed from disparate sources. The story was, in many ways, an original work, and as such is not a general representative of ancient Near Eastern or even Babylonian cosmology as a whole, and its survival as the most complete creation account appears to be a product of it having been composed in the milieu of Babylonian literature that happened to survive and get discovered in the present day. On the other hand, recent evidence suggests that after its composition, it played an important role in Babylonian scribal education. The story is preserved foremost in seven clay tablets discovered from the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. The creation myth seeks to describes how the god Marduk created the world from the body of the sea monster Tiamat after defeating her in battle, after which Marduk ascends to the top of the heavenly pantheon. The Enuma Elish is one of a broader set of Near Eastern traditions describing the cosmic battle between the storm and sea


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-9.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Other biblical creation narratives === Other prominent biblical cosmogonies include Psalm 74:12–17; Psalm 89:6–13; and Job 26:7–13, with a variety of additional briefer passages expounding on subsections of these lengthier passages (like Isaiah 51:9–10). Like traditions from Babylon, Egypt, Anatolia, and Canaan and the Levant, these cosmogonies describe a cosmic battle (on the part of Yahweh in the biblical versions) with a sea god (named Leviathan, Rahab) but only with Babylonian versions like the Enuma Elish is the victory against the sea god followed by an act of creation. The seemingly well-known cosmogony proceeded as follows: Yahweh fights and subdues the sea god while portrayed as holding a weapon and fighting with meteorological forces; the Sea that previously covered the earth is forced to make way for dry land and parts of it are confined behind the seashore, in the clouds, and into storehouses below the earth; Mount Zaphon is established and a temple for Yahweh is erected; finally, Yahweh is enthroned above all the gods. An alternative cosmogony appears in the doxologies of Amos (4:13; 5:8; 9:5–6). Instead of the earth being already covered by a primal sea, the earth is originally in a dry state and only


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-10.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Survival === Copies from the Sippar Library indicate the Enuma Elish was copied into Seleucid times. One Hellenistic-era Babylonian priest, Berossus, wrote a Greek text about Mesopotamian traditions called the Babyloniaca (History of Babylon). The text survives mainly in fragments, especially by quotations in Eusebius in the fourth-century. The first book contains an account of Babylonian cosmology and, though concise, contains a number of echoes of the Enuma Elish. The creation account of Berossus is attributed to the divine messenger Oannes in the period after the global flood and is derivative of the Enuma Elish but also has significant variants to it. Babylonian cosmology also received treatments by the lost works of Alexander Polyhistor and Abydenus. The last known evidence for reception of the Enuma Elish is in the writings of Damascius (462–538), who had a well-informed source. As such, some learned circles in late antiquity continued to know the Enuma Elish. Echoes of Mesopotamian cosmology continue into the 11th century. === Early Greek cosmology === Early Greek cosmology was closely related to the broader domain of ancient near eastern cosmology, reflected 8th century BC works like the Theogony of Hesiod and the works of Homer, and prior to


id: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology-11.md
category: reference
title: Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Near_Eastern_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:43.951701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-near-eastern-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
Cosmographies were described in works other than those of the Hexaemeral genre. For example, in the genre of novels, the Alexander Romance would portray a mythologized picture of the journeys and conquests of Alexander the Great, ultimately inspired by the Epic of Gilgamesh. The influence is evident in the texts cosmography, as Alexander reaches an outer ocean circumscribing the Earth which cannot be passed. Both in the Alexander Romance, and in later texts like the Syriac Alexander Legend (Neshana), Alexander journeys to the ends of the Earth which is surrounded by an ocean. Unlike in the story of Gilgamesh, however, this ocean is an unpassable boundary that marks the extent to which Alexander can go. The Neshana also aligns with a Mesopotamian cosmography in its description of the path of the sun: as the sun sets in the west, it passes through a gateway in the firmament, cycles to the other side of the earth, and rises in the east in its passage through another celestial gateway. Alexander, like Gilgamesh, follows the path of the sun during his journey. These elements of Alexander's journey are also described as part of the journey of Dhu al-Qarnayn in the Quran. Gilgamesh's journey


id: animal-magnetism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism-0.md
category: reference
title: Animal magnetism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:45.147761+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: animal-magnetism-20260505-0
summary:
Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a pseudoscientific theory promoted by German physician Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (Lebensmagnetismus) possessed by all living things, including humans, animals, and vegetables. He claimed that the force could have physical effects, including healing. The vitalist theory attracted numerous followers in Europe and the United States and was popular into the 19th century. Practitioners were often known as magnetizers rather than mesmerists. It had an important influence in medicine for about 75 years from its beginnings in 1779, and continued to have some influence for another 50 years. Hundreds of books were written on the subject between 1766 and 1925, but it is no longer practiced today except as a form of alternative medicine in some places. This theory also had a strong influence on the development of Kardecism. == Etymology and definitions == === Magnetizer === The terms magnetizer and mesmerizer have been applied to people who study and practice animal magnetism. These terms have been distinguished from mesmerist and magnetist, which are regarded as denoting those who study animal magnetism without being practitioners; and from hypnotist, someone who practises hypnosis. The


id: animal-magnetism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism-1.md
category: reference
title: Animal magnetism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:45.147761+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: animal-magnetism-20260505-0
summary:
and in contra-distinction to the Transcendental [i.e., metaphysical] Mesmerism of the Mesmerists … [allegedly] induced through the transmission of an occult influence from [the body of the operator to that of the subject,] Hypnotism, [by which] I mean a peculiar condition of the nervous system, into which it can be thrown by artificial contrivance … [a theoretical position that is entirely] consistent with generally admitted principles in physiological and psychological science [would] therefore [be most aptly] designated Rational Mesmerism. === "Mesmerism" and "hypnotism" === While there is a great range of theories and practices collectively denoted mesmerism, research has clearly identified that there are substantial and significant differences between "mesmerism" and "hypnotism" however they may be defined. == Vital fluid and animal magnetism == A 1791 London publication explains Mesmer's theory of the vital fluid: Modern philosophy has admitted a plenum or universal principle of fluid matter, which occupies all space; and that as all bodies moving in the world, abound with pores, this fluid matter introduces itself through the interstices and returns backwards and forwards, flowing through one body by the currents which issue therefrom to another, as in a magnet, which produces that phenomenon which we call Animal


id: animal-magnetism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism-2.md
category: reference
title: Animal magnetism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:45.147761+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: animal-magnetism-20260505-0
summary:
Doctor: They have refused to grant me a diploma—forbid me to practice as a physician, and all because I don't know a parcel of insignificant words; but exercise my profession according to the rules of reason and nature; Is it not natural to die, then if a dozen or two of my patients have died under my hands, is not that natural? ... Although the doctor's obsession with the use of animal magnetism, not merely to cure but to force his ward to fall in love with him, made for a humorous storyline, Inchbald's light-hearted play commented on what society perceived as threats posed by the practice. De Mainanduc brought animal magnetism to England in 1787 and promulgated it into the social arena. In 1785, he had published proposals to the ladies of Britain to establish a "hygean society" or society of health, by which they would pay to join and enjoy his treatments. As both popularity and skepticism increased, many became convinced that animal magnetism could lead to sexual exploitation of women. Not only did the practice involve close personal contact via the waving of hands over the body, but people were concerned that the animal magnetists could hypnotize


id: animal-magnetism-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism-3.md
category: reference
title: Animal magnetism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:45.147761+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: animal-magnetism-20260505-0
summary:
== See also == Biomagnetism – Magnetic fields produced by organisms Caloric theory – Obsolete scientific theory of heat flow James Esdaile – Scottish surgeon Charles Lafontaine – 19th-century French showman known for demonstrations of animal magnetism Magnetoception – Biological ability to perceive magnetic fieldsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Odic force – Hypothetical vital energy or life force Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism – 1784 French scientific bodies' investigations involving systematic controlled trials The Zoist: A Journal of Cerebral Physiology & Mesmerism, and Their Applications to Human Welfare – Academic journal devoted to pseudoscientific concepts == References == == Sources == == Further reading == Anton Mesmer, "Propositions Concerning Animal Magnetism" (1779), from: Binet, A. & Féré, C. Animal Magnetism, New York: Appleton and Co., 1888; web archive The Baron Dupotet de Sennevoy. An Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism. London: Saunders & Otley, 1838; full text William Gregory. Letters to a Candid Inquirer on Animal Magnetism. Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1851; full text Charles Poyen. Animal magnetism. Boston: Weeks, Jordan & co., 1837; full text == External links == The dictionary definition of animal magnetism at Wiktionary Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Animal Magnetism"


id: antiperistasis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiperistasis-0.md
category: reference
title: Antiperistasis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiperistasis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:46.342176+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: antiperistasis-20260505-0
summary:
Antiperistasis, in philosophy, is a general term for various processes, real or contrived, in which one quality heightens the force of another, opposing, quality. == Overview == Historically, antiperistasis as a type of explanation was applied to numerous phenomena, from the interaction of quicklime with cold water, to the origin of thunder and lightning. In his Timaeus, Plato introduces the concept of periosis pushing around in order to explain various phenomena. Plato, for instance, appeals to it to explain how respiration functions in human beings. His 'theory' has been most famously adopted by Aristotle who made popular the term antiperistasis. In a nutshell it was "the doctrine that a moving object, which is no longer in touch with the mover, is moved by the medium through which it moves. Logically, it is connected to the idea that void does not exist. It was using this explanation that academic philosophers claimed that cold, on many occasions, increases a body's temperature, and dryness increases its moisture. Thus, it was said, quicklime (CaO) was apparently set ablaze when doused with cold water (an effect later explained as an exothermic reaction). It was also the understood reason for why water, such as that in


id: arca-no-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arca_Noë-0.md
category: reference
title: Arca Noë
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arca_Noë
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:47.505668+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: arca-no-20260505-0
summary:
Arca Noë ("Noah's Ark") is a book published in 1675 by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It is a study of the biblical story of Noah's Ark, published by the cartographer and bookseller Johannes van Waesbergen in Amsterdam. Kircher's aim in Arca Noë was to reconcile recent discoveries in nature and geography with the text of the Bible. This demonstration of the underlying unity and truth between revelation and science was a fundamental task of Catholic scholarship at the time. Together with its sister volume Turris Babel ("The Tower of Babel"), Arca Noë presented a complete intellectual project to demonstrate how contemporary science supported the account of the Book of Genesis. == Structure == The work is divided into three volumes: the first, De rebus quae ante Diluvium, dealt with the story of Noah before the Genesis flood narrative, the building of the Ark, the choice of animals to go on board and how they were accommodated. The second, De iis, quae ipso Diluvio e jusque duratione, concerned the flood itself and how the Ark was managed while the flood lasted, as well as providing a mystical and allegorical explanation of its meaning, as a vessel carrying the human soul.


id: arca-no-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arca_Noë-1.md
category: reference
title: Arca Noë
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arca_Noë
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:47.505668+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: arca-no-20260505-0
summary:
Kircher sought to account for how different kinds of animal were accommodated in the Ark, and to do this, he classified them, focusing mainly on Old World species. Echoing Pliny, he ignored the taxonomies of his contemporary scholars and simply classified them by size, from the elephant downwards. He went on to explain how they would have been accommodated, with plant-eaters separated from meat-eaters, land-dwellers from amphibians and water creatures, and 'clean' from 'unclean'. The chart showing the floor plan for the Ark shows how the animals were housed. On the lower deck one side berthed beavers, otters, crocodiles, hippopotami, goat-stags, gazelles, elks, bison, goats, sheep, cattle, deer, reindeer, wild goats, chamois, fallow deer, dogs, aquatic hare-hounds, Molossian hounds, Maltese dogs, Indian dogs, seals, turtles, hedgehogs, porcupines, badgers, dormice, martens and weasels. The other side housed small Indian pigs, rabbits, hares, squirrels, monkeys, apes, cats, asses, donkeys, horses, dromedaries, camels, elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, bears, tigers, panthers, leopards, unicorns, other horned animals from Africa, lynxes, gluttons, wolves, foxes, wild boars and domestic pigs. The middle deck carried food and supplies both for the voyage and for life after it. On one side were stored agricultural tools, clothes and household linens, metal


id: azoic-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azoic_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Azoic hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azoic_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:48.682838+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: azoic-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
The Azoic hypothesis (sometimes referred to as the Abyssus theory) is a superseded scientific theory proposed by Edward Forbes in 1843, stating that the abundance and variety of marine life decreased with increasing depth and, by extrapolation of his own measurements, Forbes calculated that marine life would cease to exist below 300 fathoms (1,800 ft; 550 m). == Overview == The theory was based upon Forbes' findings aboard HMS Beacon (1832), a survey ship to which he had been appointed naturalist by the ship's commander Captain Thomas Graves. With Forbes aboard, HMS Beacon set sail around the Aegean Sea on 17 April 1841, from Malta. It was at this point that Forbes began to take dredging samples at various depths of the ocean, he observed that samples from greater depths displayed a narrower diversity of creatures which were generally smaller in size. Forbes reported his findings from the Aegean Sea in his 1843 report to the British Association entitled Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean Sea. His findings were widely accepted by the scientific community and were bolstered by other scientific figures of the time. David Page (1814–1879), a respected geologist, reinforced the theory by stating that


id: balance-of-nature-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_nature-0.md
category: reference
title: Balance of nature
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_nature
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:49.833645+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: balance-of-nature-20260505-0
summary:
The balance of nature, also known as ecological balance, is a theory that proposes that ecological systems are usually in a stable equilibrium or homeostasis, which is to say that a small change (the size of a particular population, for example) will be corrected by some negative feedback that will bring the parameter back to its original "point of balance" with the rest of the system. The balance is sometimes depicted as easily disturbed and delicate, while other times it is inversely portrayed as powerful enough to correct any imbalances by itself. The concept has been described as "normative", as well as teleological, as it makes a claim about how nature should be: nature is balanced because "it is supposed to be balanced". The theory has been employed to describe how populations depend on each other, for example in predator-prey systems, or relationships between herbivores and their food source. It is also sometimes applied to the relationship between the Earth's ecosystem, the composition of the atmosphere, and weather. The theory has been discredited by scientists working in ecology, as it has been found that constant disturbances leading to chaotic and dynamic changes are the norm in nature. During the later


id: balance-of-nature-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_nature-1.md
category: reference
title: Balance of nature
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_nature
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:49.833645+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: balance-of-nature-20260505-0
summary:
Despite being discredited among ecologists, the theory is widely held to be true by the general public, conservationists and environmentalists, with one author calling it an "enduring myth". Environmental and conservation organizations such as the WWF, Sierra Club and Canadian Wildlife Federation continue to promote the theory, as do animal rights organizations such as PETA. Kim Cuddington considers the balance of nature to be a "foundational metaphor in ecology", which is still in active use by ecologists. She argues that many ecologists see nature as a "beneficent force" and that they also view the universe as being innately predictable; Cuddington asserts that the balance of nature acts as a "shorthand for the paradigm expressing this worldview". Douglas Allchin and Alexander J. Werth assert that although "ecologists formally eschew the concept of balance of nature, it remains a widely adopted preconception and a feature of language that seems not to disappear entirely." At least in Midwestern America, the balance of nature idea was shown to be widely held by both science majors and the general student population. In a study at the University of Patras, educational sciences students were asked to reason about the future of ecosystems which suffered human-driven disturbances.


id: brain-matures-at-25-myth-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_matures_at_25_myth-0.md
category: reference
title: Brain matures at 25 myth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_matures_at_25_myth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:50.993982+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brain-matures-at-25-myth-20260505-0
summary:
The "brain matures at 25" myth or "twenty-five year old brain" myth is the claim that the human brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex, reaches an adult level maturity approximately around age 25. This myth occasionally has others numbers cited, but 25 is by far the most commonly occurring. Teen brain theory is the pseudoscientific theory based on this myth. The myth suggests that a person does not have full adult capacity or maturity until this age threshold is achieved. It has been attributed to various figures, notably Jay Giedd and Laurence Steinberg. It has been shown that the prefrontal cortex does prune gray matter with age, but these changes are not conclusively linked with better cognitive function or a higher level of socioemotional maturity. It is widely quoted on social media outlets, usually in debates regarding legal age limits or youth behavior. == Origin and spread == A common source for the myth is from the research of Jay Giedd. The study in particular was longitudinal, following a group of thirteen people from 1994 to 2004 with ages at the end of the study ranging from 4–21 years old. His team of researchers found that changes in the prefrontal cortex


id: center-of-the-universe-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_the_universe-0.md
category: reference
title: Center of the universe
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_the_universe
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:52.208732+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: center-of-the-universe-20260505-0
summary:
The center of the universe is a concept in historical cosmological models prior to the 20th century. Modern cosmological theories are based on the Copernican principle that all locations are equivalent and the universe has no spatial center. Historically, different people have suggested various locations as the center of the Universe. Many mythological cosmologies included an axis mundi, the central axis of a flat Earth that connects the Earth, heavens, and other realms together. In the 4th century BC Greece, philosophers developed the geocentric model, based on astronomical observation; this model proposed that the center of the Universe lies at the center of a spherical, stationary Earth, around which the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars rotate. With the development of the heliocentric model by Nicolaus Copernicus in the 16th century, the Sun was believed to be the center of the Universe, with the planets (including Earth) and stars orbiting it. In the early-20th century, the discovery of other galaxies and the development of the Big Bang theory led to the development of cosmological models of a homogeneous, isotropic Universe which has no distinct spatial central point because, given that space expands from a shared central point in time (the Big


id: center-of-the-universe-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_the_universe-1.md
category: reference
title: Center of the universe
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_the_universe
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:52.208732+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: center-of-the-universe-20260505-0
summary:
Heliocentrism, or heliocentricism, is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a relatively stationary Sun at the center of the Solar System. The word comes from the Greek (ἥλιος helios "sun" and κέντρον kentron "center"). The notion that the Earth revolves around the Sun had been proposed as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos, but had received no support from most other ancient astronomers. Nicolaus Copernicus' major theory of a heliocentric model was published in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), in 1543, the year of his death, though he had formulated the theory several decades earlier. Copernicus' ideas were not immediately accepted, but they did begin a paradigm shift away from the Ptolemaic geocentric model to a heliocentric model. The Copernican Revolution, as this paradigm shift would come to be called, would last until Isaac Newton’s work over a century later. Johannes Kepler published his first two laws about planetary motion in 1609, having found them by analyzing the astronomical observations of Tycho Brahe. Kepler's third law was published in 1619. The first law was "The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun


id: center-of-the-universe-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_the_universe-2.md
category: reference
title: Center of the universe
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_the_universe
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:52.208732+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: center-of-the-universe-20260505-0
summary:
== The nonexistence of a center of the Universe == In 1917, Heber Doust Curtis observed a nova within what then was called the "Andromeda Nebula". Searching the photographic record, 11 more novas were discovered. Curtis noticed that novas in Andromeda were drastically fainter than novas in the Milky Way. Based on this, Curtis was able to estimate that Andromeda was 500,000 light-years away. As a result, Curtis became a proponent of the so-called "island Universes" hypothesis, which held that objects previously believed to be spiral nebulae within the Milky Way were actually independent galaxies. In 1920, the Great Debate between Harlow Shapley and Curtis took place, concerning the nature of the Milky Way, spiral nebulae, and the dimensions of the Universe. To support his claim that the Great Andromeda Nebula (M31) was an external galaxy, Curtis also noted the appearance of dark lanes resembling the dust clouds in this galaxy, as well as the significant Doppler shift. In 1922 Ernst Öpik presented an elegant and simple astrophysical method to estimate the distance of M31. His result put the Andromeda Nebula far outside this galaxy at a distance of about 450,000 parsec, which is about 1,500,000 ly. Edwin Hubble settled


id: cosmic-age-problem-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_age_problem-0.md
category: reference
title: Cosmic age problem
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_age_problem
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:53.430171+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cosmic-age-problem-20260505-0
summary:
The cosmic age problem was a historical problem in astronomy concerning the age of the universe. The problem was that at various times in the 20th century, the universe was estimated to be younger than the oldest observed stars. Estimates of the universe's age came from measurements of the current expansion rate of the universe, the Hubble constant H 0 {\displaystyle H_{0}} , as well as cosmological models relating H 0 {\displaystyle H_{0}} to the universe's matter and energy contents (see the Friedmann equations). Issues with measuring H 0 {\displaystyle H_{0}} as well as not knowing about the existence of dark energy led to spurious estimates of the age. Additionally, objects such as galaxies, stars, and planets could not have existed in the extreme temperatures and densities shortly after the Big Bang. Since around 1997–2003, the problem is believed to have been solved by most cosmologists: modern cosmological measurements lead to a precise estimate of the age of the universe (i.e. time since the Big Bang) of 13.8 billion years, and recent age estimates for the oldest objects are either younger than this, or consistent allowing for measurement uncertainties. == Historical development == === Early years === Following theoretical developments


id: cosmic-age-problem-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_age_problem-1.md
category: reference
title: Cosmic age problem
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_age_problem
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:53.430171+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cosmic-age-problem-20260505-0
summary:
=== Late 1990s: probable solution === The age problem was eventually thought to be resolved by several developments between 1995 and 2003: firstly, a large program with the Hubble Space Telescope measured the Hubble constant at 72 (km/s)/Mpc with 10 percent uncertainty. Secondly, measurements of parallax by the Hipparcos spacecraft in 1995 revised globular cluster distances upwards by 5-10 percent; this made their stars brighter than previously estimated and therefore younger, shifting their age estimates down to around 12-13 billion years. Finally, from 1998 to 2003 a number of new cosmological observations including supernovae, cosmic microwave background observations and large galaxy redshift surveys led to the acceptance of dark energy and the establishment of the Lambda-CDM model as the standard model of cosmology. The presence of dark energy implies that the universe was expanding more slowly at around half its present age than today, which makes the universe older for a given value of the Hubble constant. The combination of the three results above essentially removed the discrepancy between estimated globular cluster ages and the age of the universe. More recent measurements from WMAP and the Planck spacecraft lead to an estimate of the age of the universe of 13.80


id: council-of-jamnia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jamnia-0.md
category: reference
title: Council of Jamnia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jamnia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:54.611504+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: council-of-jamnia-20260505-0
summary:
Scholars refer to the Council of Jamnia (presumably Yavneh in the Holy Land) as a late 1st-century AD gathering that some claim finalized the canon of the Hebrew Bible in response to Christianity. Heinrich Graetz first proposed this theory in 1871, and many scholars accepted it throughout much of the 20th century. Since the 1960s, scholars have increasingly challenged and largely discredited the theory, arguing instead that the Hebrew canon emerged earlier, possibly during the Hasmonean period. Rabbinic and Messianic Jewish scholars, however, highlight Jamnia's role in consolidating Jewish textual tradition and communal identity, emphasizing its importance for scriptural interpretation and religious authority rather than formal canonical closure. == Background == The Talmud records that shortly before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai negotiated with the Roman authorities to establish a center of Jewish learning in Yavneh (Jamnia). After the Romans besieged Jerusalem, Yohanan ben Zakkai obtained permission from the Roman general Vespasian to relocate and found a school dedicated to studying and developing halakha (Jewish religious law). This action ensured that Jewish scholarship and religious life could continue outside the Temple-centric system, which the Romans had destroyed. Yohanan ben Zakkai and other


id: council-of-jamnia-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jamnia-1.md
category: reference
title: Council of Jamnia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jamnia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:54.611504+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: council-of-jamnia-20260505-0
summary:
== Rabbinic and Messianic Jewish perspectives on Jamnia == Rabbinic and Messianic Jewish scholars emphasize how the gatherings at Yavneh (Jamnia) actively shaped Jewish identity and religious literature after the destruction of the Second Temple. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg, a scholar of Jewish Studies and founder of the Israel Bible Center, explains that the sages at Yavneh deliberately worked to define and consolidate sacred texts within the Jewish community during this turbulent period. He highlights that the discussions at Yavneh focused on establishing religious authority and scriptural interpretation rather than formalizing a closed biblical canon. Lizorkin-Eyzenberg stresses that these efforts helped unify the Jewish people by reaffirming shared traditions and texts amid the upheaval caused by the Temple's destruction and the rise of competing religious groups. Jacob Neusner, a leading scholar of Rabbinic Judaism, acknowledges that the sages at Yavneh did not formally finalize the Hebrew Bible canon in a single council. Instead, he shows how they engaged in authoritative debates and interpretations that gradually established normative boundaries for Jewish sacred literature. Neusner argues that this discursive process at Yavneh served as a critical foundation for the later codification of Jewish scripture and law. Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United


id: dirac-large-numbers-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_large_numbers_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Dirac large numbers hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_large_numbers_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:55.823362+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dirac-large-numbers-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
The Dirac large numbers hypothesis (LNH) is an observation made by Paul Dirac in 1937 relating ratios of size scales in the Universe to that of force scales. The ratios constitute very large, dimensionless numbers: some 40 orders of magnitude in the present cosmological epoch. According to Dirac's hypothesis, the apparent similarity of these ratios might not be a mere coincidence but instead could imply a cosmology with these unusual features: The strength of gravity, as represented by the gravitational constant, is inversely proportional to the age of the universe: G ∝ 1 / t {\displaystyle G\propto 1/t\,} The mass of the universe is proportional to the square of the universe's age: M ∝ t 2 {\displaystyle M\propto t^{2}} . Physical constants are actually not constant. Their values depend on the age of the Universe. Stated in another way, the hypothesis states that all very large dimensionless quantities occurring in fundamental physics should be simply related to a single very large number, which Dirac chose to be the age of the universe. == Background == LNH was Dirac's personal response to a set of large number "coincidences" that had intrigued other theorists of his time. The "coincidences" began with Hermann


id: dirac-large-numbers-hypothesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_large_numbers_hypothesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Dirac large numbers hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_large_numbers_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:55.823362+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dirac-large-numbers-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
== Later developments and interpretations == Dirac's theory has inspired and continues to inspire a significant body of scientific literature in a variety of disciplines, with it sparking off many speculations, arguments and new ideas in terms of applications. In the context of geophysics, for instance, Edward Teller seemed to raise a serious objection to LNH in 1948 when he argued that variations in the strength of gravity are not consistent with paleontological data. However, George Gamow demonstrated in 1962 how a simple revision of the parameters (in this case, the age of the Solar System) can invalidate Teller's conclusions. The debate is further complicated by the choice of LNH cosmologies: In 1978, G. Blake argued that paleontological data is consistent with the "multiplicative" scenario but not the "additive" scenario. Arguments both for and against LNH are also made from astrophysical considerations. For example, D. Falik argued that LNH is inconsistent with experimental results for microwave background radiation whereas Canuto and Hsieh argued that it is consistent. One argument that has created significant controversy was put forward by Robert Dicke in 1961. Known as the anthropic coincidence or fine-tuned universe, it simply states that the large numbers in LNH are


id: list-of-discredited-substances-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_discredited_substances-0.md
category: reference
title: List of discredited substances
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_discredited_substances
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:57.026496+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-discredited-substances-20260505-0
summary:
This is a list of substances or materials generally considered discredited. A substance can be discredited in one of three ways: It was widely believed to exist at one time but no longer is. Such substances are often part of an obsolete scientific theory. It was once believed to have drastically different properties from those accepted now. It was widely claimed and believed to possess significant properties that are no longer attributed to it. It is currently believed to exist as part of a theory that has not met the theoretical and experimental requirements of mainstream science. In particular, such a theory must be predictive. == Substances whose existence is discredited == == Substances whose properties are discredited == This is not to be construed as implying that these items–as they are understood today–are discredited. What is listed are fire, water, metal, etc. as universal principles or fundamentals. Classical elements and Chinese elements discredited by atomic theory and nuclear physics. Fire (classical element) Water (classical element) Earth (classical element) Air (classical element) Wood (classical element) Metal (classical element) Aether (classical element): Now known not to exist (see above) The four bodily humours: Blood, Phlegm, Black Bile, and Yellow Bile. Fluids


id: firmament-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament-0.md
category: reference
title: Firmament
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:58.201988+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: firmament-20260505-0
summary:
In Ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the firmament was a celestial barrier that separated the Heavenly waters above from the Earth below. In Biblical cosmology, the firmament (Hebrew: רָקִ֫יעַ‎ rāqīaʿ) was the vast solid dome created by God during the Genesis creation narrative to separate the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear. The concept was adopted into the subsequent Classical and Medieval models of heavenly spheres, but was dropped with advances in astronomy in the 16th and 17th centuries. Today the word is sometimes used as a synonym for the sky or for heaven. == Etymology == === Firmament === In English, the word "firmament" is recorded as early as 1250, in the Middle English Story of Genesis and Exodus. It later appeared in the King James Bible. The same word is found in French and German Bible translations, all from the Latin firmamentum (a firm object), used in the Vulgate (4th century). This in turn is a calque of the Greek στερέωμᾰ (steréōma), also meaning a solid or firm structure (Greek στερεός = rigid), which appears in the Septuagint, the Greek translation made by Jewish scholars around 200 BC. === Raqia ===


id: firmament-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament-1.md
category: reference
title: Firmament
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:58.201988+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: firmament-20260505-0
summary:
Prior to the systematic study of the cosmos by the Ionian School in the city of Miletus in the 6th century BC, the early Greek conception of cosmology was closely related to that of near eastern cosmology and envisioned a flat Earth with a solid firmament above the Earth supported by pillars. However, the work of Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Thales, followed by classical Greek theoreticians like Aristotle and Ptolemy ushered in the notions of a spherical Earth and an Earth floating in the center of the cosmos as opposed to resting on a body of water. This picture was geocentric and represented the cosmos as a whole as spherical. === Patristic cosmology === One problem for Christian interpreters was in understanding the distinction between the heaven created on the first day and the firmament created in the second day. Origen followed the cosmological dualism of the Hellenistic Jewish scholar Philo of Alexandria, who proposed a distinction between the material and eternal creations but does not appear to have associated matter or materiality with evil. Under Origen's influence the waters above became associated with the spiritual plane of Christian contemplative exercise and the waters below with the demonic and infernal. The


id: firmament-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament-2.md
category: reference
title: Firmament
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:58.201988+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: firmament-20260505-0
summary:
A distinctive collection of ideas about the cosmos were drawn up and recorded in the rabbinic literature, though the conception is rooted deeply in the tradition of near eastern cosmology recorded in Hebrew, Akkadian, and Sumerian sources, combined with some additional influences in the newer Greek ideas about the structure of the cosmos and the heavens in particular. The rabbis viewed the heavens to be a solid object spread over the Earth, which was described with the biblical Hebrew word for the firmament, raki’a. Two images were used to describe it: either as a tent, or as a dome; the former inspired from biblical references, though the latter is without an evident precedent. As for its composition, just as in cuneiform literature the rabbinic texts describe that the firmament was made out of a solid form of water, not just the conventional liquid water known on the Earth. A different tradition makes an analogy between the creation of the firmament and the curdling of milk into cheese. Another tradition is that a combination of fire and water makes up the heavens. This is somewhat similar to a view attributed to Anaximander, whereby the firmament is made of a mixture of


id: francien-language-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francien_language-0.md
category: reference
title: Francien language
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francien_language
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:33:59.387734+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: francien-language-20260505-0
summary:
Francien (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃sjɛ̃]), also anglicized as Francian (), is a 19th-century term in linguistics that was applied to the French dialect that was spoken during the Middle Ages in the regions of Île-de-France (with Paris at its centre), Orléanais, as well as Touraine, Berry, and Bourbonnais before the establishment of the French language as a standard language. According to one theory of the development of French, Francien was chosen out of all the competing oïl languages as an official language (Norman and Picard being the main competitors in the medieval period). The theory currently prevailing, however, is that Francien was one of the dialects in the dialect continuum on top of which an administrative language, untrammeled by perceived regionalisms, was imposed as a compromise means of communication and record to replace Latin. The existence and definition of Francien were put forward in the 19th century, partly to support the idea of the French language as enjoying a direct and pure lineage from Latin and to minimize the contributions of the various Romance languages of France. Nowadays, the question of Francien is a controversial topic in discussions of language policy in France. == See also == Old French Ordinance of


id: geohumoral-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geohumoral_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Geohumoral theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geohumoral_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:00.516614+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: geohumoral-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Geohumoral theory or Geohumoralism was a racialist concept propounded in Renaissance Europe. Briefly, it "held that variations in topography and climate produced variations in national characteristics" (Wilson 133). This embodied the early modern "...common way of understanding human nature...through analyzing how European bodies altered as a result of being in one climate rather than another – some Europeans, notably those in cold northern climes, such as the English and Scots, and those in southern climes, such as those close to the shores of tropical Africa, had their bodies altered sufficiently by environmental factors so as to be morally defective and physically decrepit" (Abulafia qtd. in Burnard par. 7). Geohumoralism was, in part, a philosophical justification for the European imperial encroachment upon the New World. == References ==


id: global-cooling-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling-0.md
category: reference
title: Global cooling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:02.304703+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: global-cooling-20260505-0
summary:
Global cooling was a conjecture, especially during the 1970s, of imminent cooling of the Earth culminating in a period of extensive glaciation, due to the cooling effects of aerosols or orbital forcing. Some press reports in the 1970s speculated about continued cooling; these did not accurately reflect the scientific literature of the time, which was generally more concerned with warming from an enhanced greenhouse effect. An overall warming trend from the late Industrial Revolution did slow and reverse slightly from the 1940s to the 1970s, but then continued sharply upward into the 2020s. == Introduction: general awareness and concern == By the 1970s, scientists were becoming increasingly aware that estimates of global temperatures showed cooling since 1945, as well as the possibility of large scale warming due to emissions of greenhouse gases. In the scientific papers which considered climate trends of the 21st century, fewer than 10% were inclined towards future cooling, while most papers predicted future warming. The general public had little awareness of carbon dioxide's effects on climate, but Science News in May 1959 forecast a 25% increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide in the 150 years from 1850 to 2000, with a consequent warming trend. The actual increase


id: global-cooling-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling-1.md
category: reference
title: Global cooling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:02.304703+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: global-cooling-20260505-0
summary:
Orbital forcing refers to the slow, cyclical changes in the tilt of Earth's axis and shape of its orbit. These cycles alter the total amount of sunlight reaching the Earth by a small amount and affect the timing and intensity of the seasons. This mechanism is thought to be responsible for the timing of the ice age cycles, and understanding of the mechanism was increasing rapidly in the mid-1970s. The paper of Hays, Imbrie, and Shackleton "Variations in the Earth's Orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages" qualified its predictions with the remark that "forecasts must be qualified in two ways. First, they apply only to the natural component of future climatic trends - and not to anthropogenic effects such as those due to the burning of fossil fuels. Second, they describe only the long-term trends, because they are linked to orbital variations with periods of 20,000 years and longer. Climatic oscillations at higher frequencies are not predicted ... the results indicate that the long-term trend over the next 20,000 years is towards extensive Northern Hemisphere glaciation and cooler climate". The idea that ice age cycles were predictable appears to have become conflated with the idea that another one was due


id: global-cooling-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling-2.md
category: reference
title: Global cooling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:02.304703+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: global-cooling-20260505-0
summary:
=== 1970 SCEP report === The 1970 Study of Critical Environmental Problems reported the possibility of warming from increased carbon dioxide, but no concerns about cooling, setting a lower bound on the beginning of interest in "global cooling". === 1971 to 1975: papers on warming and cooling factors === By 1971, studies indicated that human caused air pollution was spreading, but there was uncertainty as to whether aerosols would cause warming or cooling, and whether or not they were more significant than rising CO2 levels. J. Murray Mitchell still viewed humans as "innocent bystanders" in the cooling from the 1940s to 1970, but in 1971 his calculations suggested that rising emissions could cause significant cooling after 2000, though he also argued that emissions could cause warming depending on circumstances. Calculations were too basic at this time to be trusted to give reliable results. An early numerical computation of climate effects was published in the journal Science in July 1971 as a paper by S. Ichtiaque Rasool and Stephen H. Schneider, titled "Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Aerosols: Effects of Large Increases on Global Climate". The paper used rudimentary data and equations to compute the possible future effects of large increases in


id: global-cooling-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling-3.md
category: reference
title: Global cooling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:02.304703+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: global-cooling-20260505-0
summary:
=== 1975 National Academy of Sciences report === There also was a Report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) entitled, "Understanding Climate Change: A Program for Action". The report stated (p. 36) that, "The average surface air temperature in the northern hemisphere increased from the 1880s until about 1940 and has been decreasing thereafter." It also stated (p. 44) that, "If both the CO2 and particulate inputs to the atmosphere grow at equal rates in the future, the widely differing atmospheric residence times of the two pollutants means that the particulate effect will grow in importance relative to that of CO2." The report did not predict whether the 25-year cooling trend would continue. It stated (Forward, p. v) that, "we do not have a good quantitative understanding of our climate machine and what determines its course [so] it does not seem possible to predict climate", and (p. 2) "The climates of the earth have always been changing, and they will doubtless continue to do so in the future. How large these future changes will be, and where and how rapidly they will occur, we do not know." The Report's "program for action" was a call for creation of


id: global-cooling-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling-4.md
category: reference
title: Global cooling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:02.304703+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: global-cooling-20260505-0
summary:
=== 1990s === In 1991, a prediction by Carl Sagan and other scientists who had worked on the famous TTAPS study on nuclear winter that massive oil well fires in Kuwait would cause significant effects on climate was incorrect. In January 1999, contrarian Patrick Michaels wrote a commentary offering to "take even money that the 10 years ending on December 31, 2007, will show a statistically significant global cooling trend in temperatures measured by satellite", on the basis of his view that record temperatures in 1998 had been a blip. Indeed, over that period, satellite-measured temperatures never again approached their 1998 peak. Due to a sharp but temporary dip in temperatures in 1999–2000, a least-squares linear regression fit to the satellite temperature record showed little overall trend. The RSS satellite temperature record showed a slight cooling trend, but the UAH satellite temperature record showed a slight warming trend. == Twenty-first century == In 2003, the Office of Net Assessment at the United States Department of Defense was commissioned to produce a study on the likely and potential effects of abrupt modern climate change should a shutdown of thermohaline circulation occur. The study, conducted under ONA head Andrew Marshall, modelled its


id: global-cooling-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling-5.md
category: reference
title: Global cooling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:02.304703+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: global-cooling-20260505-0
summary:
== Further reading == Carslaw, K. S. "The Climate Record: The Last Several Centuries and Last Several Decades. Is the Climate Stable?". ENVI2150 Climate Change: Scientific Issues. Archived from the original on February 20, 2007. Retrieved November 17, 2005. unknown. "History of Continental Drift - Before Wegener". Archived from the original on November 23, 2005. Retrieved November 17, 2005. http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=52903 Vanderbilt Television News Archive Johnson, Scott K. (June 7, 2016). "That '70s myth—did climate science really call for a "coming ice age?"". Ars Technica. Retrieved June 8, 2019. == External links == What were climate scientists predicting in the 1970s?, summaries for laypeople of research and conspiracy theories by Skeptical Science, described by the marine biologist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg "the most prominent knowledge-based website dealing with climate change in the world". Discussion and quotes from various papers about the "1970s prediction of an imminent ice age", by Wm Connolley SCOPE 13 - The Global Carbon Cycle, SCOPE, 1976. SCOPE 27 - Climate Impact Assessment, 1984. "Another Ice Age?". Time. June 24, 1974. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Chambers FM, Brain SA (2002). "Paradigm shifts in late-Holocene climatology?". The Holocene. 12 (2): 239–249. Bibcode:2002Holoc..12..239C. doi:10.1191/0959683602hl540fa. S2CID 128774561. Past Climate


id: history-of-astrology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astrology-0.md
category: reference
title: History of astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:04.287800+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-astrology-20260505-0
summary:
Astrology is a belief in a relation between celestial observations and terrestrial events. People made conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles. Early evidence of such practices appears as markings on bones and cave walls, which show that the lunar cycle was being noted as early as 25,000 years ago; the first step towards recording the Moon's influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organizing a communal calendar. With the Neolithic Revolution new needs were also being met by the increasing knowledge of constellations, whose appearances in the night-time sky change with the seasons, thus allowing the rising of particular star-groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities. By the 3rd millennium BCE, widespread civilisations had developed sophisticated understanding of celestial cycles, and are believed to have consciously oriented their temples to create alignment with the heliacal risings of the stars. There is scattered evidence to suggest that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made during this period, particularly in Mesopotamia. Two, from the Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa (compiled in Babylon round 1700 BC) are reported to have been made during the reign of king Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC).


id: history-of-astrology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astrology-1.md
category: reference
title: History of astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:04.287800+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-astrology-20260505-0
summary:
... In the beginning of the year a flood will come and break the dikes. When the Moon has made the eclipse, the king, my lord, should write to me. As a substitute for the king, I will cut through a dike, here in Babylonia, in the middle of the night. No one will know about it. Ulla Koch-Westenholz, in her 1995 book Mesopotamian Astrology, argues that this ambivalence between a theistic and mechanic worldview defines the Babylonian concept of celestial divination as one which, despite its heavy reliance on magic, remains free of implications of targeted punishment with the purpose of revenge, and so "shares some of the defining traits of modern science: it is objective and value-free, it operates according to known rules, and its data are considered universally valid and can be looked up in written tabulations". Koch-Westenholz also establishes the most important distinction between ancient Babylonian astrology and other divinatory disciplines as being that the former was originally exclusively concerned with mundane astrology, being geographically oriented and specifically applied to countries, cities and nations, and almost wholly concerned with the welfare of the state and the king as the governing head of the nation. Mundane astrology


id: history-of-astrology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astrology-2.md
category: reference
title: History of astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:34:04.287800+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-astrology-20260505-0
summary:
== Greece and Rome == The conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great exposed the Greeks to the cultures and cosmological ideas of Syria, Babylon, Persia and central Asia. Greek overtook cuneiform script as the international language of intellectual communication and part of this process was the transmission of astrology from cuneiform to Greek. Sometime around 280 BC, Berossus, a priest of Bel from Babylon, moved to the Greek island of Kos in order to teach astrology and Babylonian culture to the Greeks. With this, what historian Nicholas Campion calls, "the innovative energy" in astrology moved west to the Hellenistic world of Greece and Egypt. According to Campion, the astrology that arrived from the Eastern World was marked by its complexity, with different forms of astrology emerging. By the 1st century BC two varieties of astrology were in existence, one that required the reading of horoscopes in order to establish precise details about the past, present and future; the other being theurgic (literally meaning 'god-work'), which emphasised the soul's ascent to the stars. While they were not mutually exclusive, the former sought information about the life, while the latter was concerned with personal transformation, where astrology served as a form


