Stretching the Boundaries: April 2014

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Robert Grosseteste, De Luce, On Light

Robert Grosseteste's Thought on Light and Form of the World
A.C. Sparavigna
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES
2014, Volume: 3, Numero: 4, Pagine: pp. 54-62
ISSN: 2305-3925
Abstract: Robert Grosseteste was one of the most prominent thinkers of the Thirteenth Century. Philosopher and scientist, he proposed a metaphysics based on the propagation of light. In this framework, he gave a cosmology too. Here we will discuss the treatise where Grosseteste proposed it, that entitled 'De luce, seu de incohatione formarum', 'On Light and the Beginning of Forms'
Parole chiave: medieval science, cosmogony, history of physics, history of science, robert grosseteste, big bang, cosmology
http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/486

You can find some papers of mine about Robert Grosseteste at this link:
http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/author/342

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Robert Grosseteste and his Big Bang

"From Rome to the Antipodes: The Medieval Form of the World," International Journal of Literature and Arts. Vol. 1, No. 2, 2013, pp. 16-25. doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20130102.11

9. Grosseteste and the Sphere of Light
Robert Grosseteste (1175-1253) was an English philosopher who became the Bishop of Lincoln. As a scientist he had a quite important role in the medieval school of Oxford [32]. In his works, in particular in the commentaries of Aristotle’s philosophy, Grosseteste devised a scientific method. From particular observations, we can find a universal law, and then, from these laws we can predict some peculiar cases. Grosseteste called this “resolution and composition” [33]. As a consequence, Grosseteste tells that physics needs the ‘experimentum’, that is, a proof from experience. These ideas were a prelude for the Galilean science in the 17th century [34]. The method of “resolution and composition” was applied to geometry and optics. Moreover, optics is described by geometry, because optics depends on geometry. As a conclusion, Grosseteste argued that mathematics was the highest science, basis for all others. Here we see that he understood the necessity to describe the physical phenomena in a mathematic formalism. Grosseteste believed that at the beginning of times, it wasthe light to move the universe. In his “De Luce”, Grosseteste explains the origin of the world. God created matter and light together in a point. Due to its nature the light propagated isotropically in all directions. It immediately became a sphere and, accordingly, dragged by the light, the matter started to expand. The creation is then explained by means of a sphere of light [35].
Grosseteste's work in optics was continued by Roger Bacon. There is also an interesting quotation often reported in the history of telescope. In his treatise entitled “De Iride”, Grosseteste writes that a part of optics, “when well understood, shows us how we may make things a very long distance off appear as if placed very close, and large near things appear very small, and how we may make small things placed at a distance appear any size we want, so that it may be possible for us to read the smallest letters at incredible distances, or to count sand, or seed, or any sort of minute objects.” It is probable that Grosseteste made some experiments using lenses and mirrors [36,37].
[32] N. Lewis, Robert Grosseteste, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2010, E.N. Zalta ed.
[33] H.G. Gauch, Jr., Scientific Method in Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p.222.
[34] W. A. Wallace, Prelude to Galileo: Essays on Medieval and Sixteenth-Century Sources of Galileo's Thought, Springer, 1981.
[35] F. Adorno, T. Gregory and V. Verra, Storia della Filosofia, Bari: Laterza, 1973.
[36] A.C. Sparavigna, "Translation and discussion of the De Iride, a treatise on optics by Robert Grosseteste," arXiv, 2012, History and Philosophy of Physics, arxiv:1211.5961.
[37] A.C. Sparavigna, "Reflection and refraction in Robert Grosseteste's De Lineis, Angulis et Figuris," arXiv, 2013, History and Philosophy of Physics, arxiv:1302.1885.

A translation of Grosseteste's treatise on Big Bang at
A.C. Sparavigna (2014) , Robert Grosseteste's Thought on Light and Form of the World. In: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCES, vol. 3 n. 4, pp. 54-62. - ISSN 2305-3925
at http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/486

I have translated and discussed some Grosseteste's treatises, you can find th links to download them freely at

http://physics-sparavigna.blogspot.it/2014/04/robert-grosseteste_8.html

Grossatesta ed il Big Bang

Roberto Grossatesta è il filosofo medievale che si è posto il problema dell'origine del mondo, un modo ancora tolemaico con al suo centro la Terra. Come dice la Genesi "e la luce fu". La luce nella sua espansione sferica porta con se la materia e crea il mondo.

Dalla pagina sul "Ilemorfismo universale"
http://www3.unisi.it/ricerca/prog/fil-med-online/temi/htm/ilemorfismo.htm
La cosmologia: Roberto Grossatesta. All’interno di una visione cosmologica, anche Roberto Grossatesta, capofila della tradizione francescana a Oxford, pone i rapporti tra forma e materia nei termini di una intrinseca unione. Accogliendo pienamente alcuni aspetti della speculazione scientifica araba, egli parla della luce come “prima forma della corporeità”. Oggetto della creazione divina, la luce sintetizza la forma e la materia nella loro esistenza primordiale. Assolutamente semplice e priva di dimensionalità, essa produce la materia estesa moltiplicandosi infinitamente. Grossatesta affida dunque alla luce l’esistenza di una materialità sottile, di per sé e sin dall’origine dotata di forma. La naturale e necessaria autopropagazione della luce gli consente, inoltre, di spiegarne il dinamismo intrinseco, da cui nasce l’intero cosmo: che raccoglie la luce originaria come lumen nel mondo astrale e come virtus in quello elementare, senza perdere il suo carattere unitario dato dall’unica forma corporea da cui è provenuto.

Dal CORSO DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA PER I LICEI E PER GLI ADULTI CHE DESIDERANO CONOSCERLA: DALLA FILOSOFIA ANTICA A QUELLA CONTEMPORANEA, s cura di Francesco Lorenzoni, 2012, V.1, FILOSOFIA ANTICA E MEDIEVALE
"Ad Oxford Roberto Grossatesta, francescano, nato nel 1175, compie studi di specifica natura scientifica ed empirica sulle proprietà degli specchi e sulle lenti, benché all'interno di una "cosmologia della luce" (la prima realtà creata è la luce e le nove sfere celesti, mentre i quattro elementi terrestri si formano attraverso processi di diffusione, aggregazione e disgregazione della luce). Ma soprattutto egli esprime un principio che sarà a fondamento del pensiero di Galileo e della fisica moderna, vale a dire il principio dell'utilità dello studio delle linee, degli angoli e delle figure geometriche, poiché senza di esso non si può conoscere niente della filosofia naturale."