The Wonderful World of Simon Stevin: 'Magic is No Magic' - Softcover

J. T. Devreese; G. Vanden Berghe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845643917 ISBN 13: 9781845643911

Publisher: WIT Press / Computational Mechanics, 2008

Synopsis

This book gives a comprehensive picture of the activities and the creative heritage of Simon Stevin, who made outstanding contributions to various fields of science, in particular physics and mathematics, as well as many more. Among the striking spectrum of his ingenious achievements, it is worth emphasizing that Simon Stevin is rightly considered the father of the decimal fraction system as it is today. Stevin also urged the universal use of decimal fractions along with standardization in coinage, measures and weights. This was a most visionary proposal. Stevin was the first scientist since Archimedes to make a significant new contribution to the fields of statics and hydrostatics. He was a true homo universalis. The impact of Stevin's works has been multilateral and worldwide, and it is evident in literature, science, politics and many other fields. Given the way science works today, it would be impossible for a single individual to make meaningful contributions in as many areas as Simon Stevin did. The purpose of this book is to introduce Simon Stevin and his work to the widest possible readership. In doing so, the authors have kept to established historical facts and critically underpinned scientific insights into Stevin and his work. This is the first complete and accessible history of the work of Simon Stevin.

About this title

About the Author

Jozef T. Devreese is a Belgian scientist, with a long career in condensed matter physics. He is Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at the Universiteit Antwerpen. His publications include 416 specialized publications in refereed international scientific journals , 693 communications at international conferences, including 147 invited, 191 invited seminars at foreign universities, industrial laboratories and research centers in Europe, USA and Japan, 15 books, including volumes related to international conferences and symposia.and approximately 4500 citations of his work by colleagues-researchers (according to the International Science Citation Index (ISCI)). Guido Vanden Berghe is a professor at the Universiteit Gent, Belgium, in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science and is currently the head of the department. He is also director of the PC-classes Alan Turing, Konrad Zuse and Ada Lovelace of the Faculty of Science at the University. Professor Vanden Berghe is a member of the SRN called Advanced Numerical Methods for Mathematical Modelling and a member of the board of the "Werkgemeenschap Numerieke Wiskunde" of the Netherlands and Flanders. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics; a member of the editorial board of JNAIAM, Journal of Numerical Analysis, Industrial and Applied Mathematics; a specialist editor in "Algorithms, Software and Architectures for Computer Physics Communications." In 2005 Professor Vanden Berghe received the Honorary Fellowship of the European Society of Computational Methods in Sciences and Engineering (ESCMSE) and in 2006 he received the Sarton medal of Ghent University for his research in the History of Science. His current areas of research include Numerical methods for ordinary differential equations: multistep methods and Runge-Kutta-(Nystrom) methods, Study and construction of mono-implicit Runge-Kutta-(Nystrom) methods, Group theoretical methods in physics., Computational physics, Exponential fitting, Sturm-Liouville problems and Schroedinger equations, History of Mathematics, Sciences and Computing, History of Science, and Simon Stevin.

Review

In this fascinating story, the contributions of Simon Stevin (1548-1620) are often overlooked. this fine book seeks to remedy that situation. The book is an excellent translation. It is an interesting well-written, well-illustrated and particularly well-translated book about a fascinating and important person who made a spectacular contribution to mathematics and decimal arithmetic. It really is a good book. --MAA Online, February 2009

The only book in English devoted solely to Renaissance polymath Simon Stevin. Admirable, well-illustrated. Recommended --CHOICE, August 2005

"Magic is No Magic" is an attractive, readable, accessible book; as the only general book about Simon Stevin in print in English, it will certainly be widely read. Its subject deserves to be much better known in the English-speaking world, and the authors have done him a service in making this volume available to us. Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society, April 2010 There is much to like about this book: it is lavishly illustrated..., it is accurate and lively, with the scientific material presented clearly and lucidly. Overall, it makes a thorough and a vivid portrait of a complex and elusive man. --Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society, December, 2009

Edition details

• Publisher: WIT Press / Computational Mechanics
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1845643917
• ISBN 13: 9781845643911
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: J. T. Devreese, G. Vanden Berghe