Jesper Lützen

Mechanistic Images in Geometric Form

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The present book shows how these aspects, as well as the hitherto overlooked mathematical aspects, form an integrated whole which is closely connected to the mechanistic world view of the time and which is a natural continuation of Hertz's earlier research on electromagnetism. Therefore it is also a case study of the strong interactions between philosophy, physics and mathematics. Moreover, the book presents an analysis of the genesis of many of the central elements of Hertz's mechanics based on his manuscripts and drafts. Hertz's research program was cut short by the advent of relativity theory but its image theory influenced many philosophers as well as some physicists and mathematicians and its geometric form had a lasting influence on advanced expositions of mechanics.

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This book presents an analysis of Heinrich Hertz's posthumously published 'Principles of Mechanics' in its philosophical, physical and mathematical context. It is the first book to comprehensively examine Hertz's important ideas on mechanics and the author draws on the original manuscripts to reveal the creative process of Hertz throughout the writing of his book.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press, USA
• Seitenzahl: 334
• Erscheinungstermin: 28. Juli 2005
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 156mm x 19mm
• Gewicht: 644g
• ISBN-13: 9780198567370
• ISBN-10: 0198567375
• Artikelnr.: 22308315

Autorenporträt

Jesper Lützen is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Copenhagen.

Inhaltsangabe

1: Introduction
2: The principles of mechanics before Hertz
3: Mechanization of physics
4: The concept of force
5: A biographical survey
6: Hertz's road to mechanics
7: Images of nature
8: Hertz's earlier ideas about images
9: Images of mechanics
10: Kantianism. A priori and empirical elements of images
11: Time, space and mass
12: The line element: the origin of the Massenteilchen
13: Hertz's geometry of systems of points
14: Vector quantities and their components
15: Connections. Material systems
16: The fundamental law
17: Free systems
18: Cyclic coordinates
19: Unfree systems. Forces
20: Cyclic and conservative systems
21: Integral principles
22: A history of non-holonomic constraints
23: Hertz on the Hamiltonian formalism
24: Mathematicians on the geometrization of the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism
25: Hertz on the domain of applicability of his mechanics
26: Force-producing models
27: Reception, extension and impact
28: List of conclusions
A: Appendix