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The Scientific Revolutions of the 16th and 17th Centuries

seminar: Descartes' vortex theory and its internal tensions

speaker: Carla Rita Palmerino (Radboud University Nijmegen)

abstract: It is well known that Descartes believed celestial bodies to be carried around by whirlpools of a fluid, subtle matter. In order to illustrate his vortex theory, he often compared the behavior of planets in the sky to that of bodies in water like barges carried by a river’s current or balls caught in a vortex. In my lecture I shall analyze some of Descartes’ explanatory models and pay particular attention to their mutual incompatibility.

timetable:
Tue 6 Dec, 17:00 - 18:00, Sala Conferenze Centro De Giorgi
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