Summary Througout the nineteenth century, acoustics or the science of sound in America lagged behind European acoustics which had been rapidly advancing. During this period, the American physicist Alfred M. Mayer made original contributions to acoustics and earned a reputation in Europe, filling a gap in late nineteenth-century American research in acoustics. Lacking fellowship with American acousticians, he was affiliated with the European community of research in acoustics in various respects such as taking up themes of research, employing experimental instruments, (...) learning the practice of research, and adopting specific theories for research. In addition, he tried to naturalise acoustics on American soil by applying expertise to practical problems and creating specialised experimental setups for acoustics education in America. But his research was not taken advantage of by the next generation of American acousticians, who focused on practical technologies such as telephony, the control of noise, and underwater acoustics. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In a series of papers read to the Cambridge Philosophical Society through the 1820s, the Cambridge mathematician George Peacock laid the foundation for a natural history of arithmetic that would tell a story of human progress from counting to modern arithmetic. The trajectory of that history, Peacock argued, established algebraic analysis as a form of universal reasoning that used empirically warranted operations of mind to think with symbols on paper. The science of counting would suggest arithmetic, arithmetic would suggest (...) arithmetical algebra, and, finally, arithmetical algebra would suggest symbolic algebra. This philosophy of suggestion provided the foundation for Peacock's “principle of equivalent forms,” which justified the practice of nineteenth-century English symbolic algebra. Peacock's philosophy of suggestion owed a considerable debt to the early Cambridge Philosophical Society culture of natural history. The aim of this essay is to show how that culture of natural history was constitutively significant to the practice of nineteenth-century English algebra. (shrink)

Según la concepción heredada, los matemáticos británicos del siglo XVIII fueron responsables de una decadencia de las matemáticas en el país de Newton; una decadencia atribuida al chovinismo y a una preferencia por el pensamiento geométrico. Este artículo debate este punto de vista describiendo, primero, la complejidad de la herencia matemática de Newton y su recepción durante las primeras décadas del siglo XVIII. Una sección dedicada al monumental Treatise of Fluxions (1742) de Maclaurin describe el intento de lograr una síntesis (...) de las diferentes corrientes de pensamiento del legado matemático de Newton, y lo compara con el trabajo contemporáneo continental. Se demuestra que a mediados del siglo XVIII los matemáticos académicos continentales tales como Euler y Lagrange estaban inspirados por suposiciones culturales locales en direcciones que divergían sensiblemente de las seguidas por Maclaurin y sus seguidores conterráneos. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In a series of papers read to the Cambridge Philosophical Society through the 1820s, the Cambridge mathematician George Peacock laid the foundation for a natural history of arithmetic that would tell a story of human progress from counting to modern arithmetic. The trajectory of that history, Peacock argued, established algebraic analysis as a form of universal reasoning that used empirically warranted operations of mind to think with symbols on paper. The science of counting would suggest arithmetic, arithmetic would suggest (...) arithmetical algebra, and, finally, arithmetical algebra would suggest symbolic algebra. This philosophy of suggestion provided the foundation for Peacock's “principle of equivalent forms,” which justified the practice of nineteenth-century English symbolic algebra. Peacock's philosophy of suggestion owed a considerable debt to the early Cambridge Philosophical Society culture of natural history. The aim of this essay is to show how that culture of natural history was constitutively significant to the practice of nineteenth-century English algebra. (shrink)