Hydrostatics on the fray

Tartaglia, Cardano and the recovering of sunken ships

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8395293
AutoresVirginia Iommi Echeverría (0000-0001-6930-7199, Pontificial Catholic University of Valparaiso, autor correspondente)
Ano2011
Volume44
Fascículo4
Páginas479-491
Data de publicação2011-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe British Journal for the History of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0007-0874 • E-ISSN: 1474-001X
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s000708741100029x
OpenAlexW2066818492
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas10

In his 1551 Travagliata invenzione , the Italian mathematician Niccolò Tartaglia described a device for raising sunken ships. Despite his claim of originality, his contemporary Girolamo Cardano had described a similar method in his famous work De subtilitate , which was published a year before. A comparison between these methods reveals the uniqueness of Tartaglia's approach, for he combines an explicit defence of the horror vacui principle with an implicit negation of rarefaction. In this article I show the complexities of this conception and stress the importance of keeping the personal argument between both authors in mind when interpreting their descriptions of wreck-salvage operations

Argument (complex analysis · Art · Art history · Literature · Mathematical analysis · Originality · Social science · Sociology · Uniqueness · Chemistry · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Maritime Navigation and Safety · Mathematics · Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation · Philosophy