Opinionated History of Mathematics

Opinionated History of Mathematics


Latest Episodes

Heliocentrism in antiquity
February 10, 2019

Two thousand years before Galileo, Greek astronomers argued that the heavenly bodies revolve around the sun. Their reasoning involved sophisticated mathematics and sound physical considerations. Transcript Is the earth the center of the universe?

Galileo’s theory of tides
January 17, 2019

Galileo dismissed the notion that the moon influences the tides as “childish” and “occult.” Instead he argued that tides are a kind of sloshing due to the motion of the earth. This very poor theory is inconsistent with several of his own scientific pri...

Why Galileo is like Nostradamus
December 27, 2018

Galileo committed scores of errors in his physics. These are bad in themselves and also undermine Galileo’s claim to credit for the things he did get right. Transcript Nostradamus published a famous book of prophesies in 1555.

Galileo’s errors on projectile motion and inertia
December 10, 2018

Galileo gets credit he does not deserve for the parabolic nature of projectile motion, the law of inertia, and the “Galilean” principle of relativity. In reality, his treatments of all of these matters were riddled with errors and fundamental misunders...

The case against Galileo on the law of fall
November 29, 2018

Galileo is praised for his work on falling bodies, but his arguments were dishonest and his trifling discoveries were not new. Transcript In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts conducted a famous experiment on the moon.

Galilean science in antiquity?
November 21, 2018

Ancient Greek scientists studied the dynamics of falling bodies. Were “Galileo’s” discoveries anticipated in these treatises that have since been lost? This question leads to a bigger one regarding relativism versus universalism in the history of thoug...

Mathematics versus philosophy, then and now
November 21, 2018

Divergent interpretations of Galileo’s alleged greatness cut across disciplinary divides: mathematics versus philosophy, science versus humanities. Understanding Galileo means dealing with these fundamental tensions. Transcript Those who can’t do,

Galileo bad, Archimedes good
November 21, 2018

Galileo's bumbling attempts at determining the area of the cycloid suggests a radical new interpretation of his scientific opus. Archimedes's work on floating bodies is an example of excellent Greek science that has not been sufficiently appreciated.

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