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El atomismo inane de Galileo

Solís Santos, Carlos (2007) El atomismo inane de Galileo. THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science, 22 (2). pp. 213-231. ISSN 2171-679X

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Abstract

El corpuscularismo sirvió a los físicos del XVII para matematizar la naturaleza al considerarla un conjun-to de sistemas mecánicos. Pero la discontinuidad del atomismo chocaba con la continuidad de las magnitudes básicas, espacio y el tiempo, y derivadas. En su madurez, Galileo fundió física y matemáticas proponiendo componer tanto los cuerpos como las magnitudes continuas a base de átomos inextensos (indivisibles). En el proceso inició el análisis de las propiedades de los conjuntos infinitos, pero no logró elaborar un cálculo que le permitiese computar diferentes movimientos acelerados, mientras que en física no resolvió en problema fundamental de la condensación y la rarefacción.

Seventeenth century atomism envisioned Nature as a set of mechanical systems to be treated mathematically. But the basic discontinuity of atomic theory of matter appeared inconsistent with the essential continuous character of geometrical magnitudes. In his old age Galileo devised a way to unify mathematics and physics via composing matter and continuous magnitudes out of an infinity of indivisible (atomic) units. Even though he forwarded the analysis of infinite sets, he couldn’t establish a calculus to compute and compare different accelerated motions. In physics he never solved the basic problem of condensation and rarefaction of substances. But the side results were interesting and even fascinating.


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Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Solís Santos, Carloscsolis@fsof.uned.es.
Additional Information: ISSN: 0495-4548 (print)
Keywords: atomismo, matemáticas, continuo, condensación y rarefacción, ciencia del siglo XVII, Galileo, atomism, mathematics, continuum, condensation and rarefaction, Seventeenth-century science
Depositing User: Users 15304 not found.
Date Deposited: 06 Mar 2014 20:03
Last Modified: 11 Mar 2014 21:49
Item ID: 10430
Journal or Publication Title: THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science
Publisher: Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea / Universidad del País Vasco
Official URL: http://www.ehu.es/ojs/index.php/THEORIA/article/vi...
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.1387/theoria.468
Date: 2007
Page Range: pp. 213-231
Volume: 22
Number: 2
ISSN: 2171-679X
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10430

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