Before Newton The Life and Times of Isaac Barrow [Hardcover]

A comprehensive re-evaluation of Isaac Barrow (16301677), one of the more prominent and intriguing of all seventeenth-century men of science.A comprehensive re-evaluation of Isaac Barrow (16301677), one of the more prominent and intriguing of all seventeenth-century men of science. Barrow is remembered today - if at all - only as Sir Isaac Newton's mentor and patron, but he in fact made important contributions to the disciplines of optics and geometry.A comprehensive re-evaluation of Isaac Barrow (16301677), one of the more prominent and intriguing of all seventeenth-century men of science. Barrow is remembered today - if at all - only as Sir Isaac Newton's mentor and patron, but he in fact made important contributions to the disciplines of optics and geometry.A comprehensive reevaluation of Isaac Barrow (1630-1677), one of the more prominent and intriguing of all seventeenth-century men of science. Barrow is remembered today--if at all--only as Sir Isaac Newton's mentor and patron, but he in fact made important contributions to the disciplines of optics and geometry. Moreover, he was a prolific and influential preacher as well as a renowned classical scholar. By seeking to understand Barrow's mathematical work, primarily within the confines of the pre-Newtonian scientific framework, the book offers a substantial rethinking of his scientific acumen. In addition to providing a biographical study of Barrow, it explores the intimate connections among his scientific, philological, and religious worldviews in an attempt to convey the complexity of the seventeenth-century culture that gave rise to Isaac Barrow, a breed of polymath that would become increasingly rare with the advent of modern science.List of contributors; Editor's preface; 1. Isaac Barrow: divine, scholar, mathematician Mordechai Feingold; 2. The Optical Lectures and the foundations of the theory of optical imagery Alan E. Shapiro; 3. Barrow's mathematics: between ancients and moderns Michael S. Mló"