Sir Jonas Moore: Practical Mathematics and Restoration Science

by Frances Willmoth

Overview

A life of Moore, 17th-century mathematician and scientist involved in the draining of the fens, the building of the mole at Tangier, and the foundation of the Royal Observatory.

Sir Jonas Moore (1617-79) - practical mathematician, teacher, author, surveyor, cartographer, Ordnance Officer, courtier and patron of astronomy -had a remarkable career, and was one of the first to make a substantial fortune frommathematical practice. Dr Willmoth follows his progress to a knighthood, membership of the Royal Society, and favour at the court of Charles II; she assesses his contribution to the draining of the Great Level (under Cornelius Vermuyden) and the building of the Mole at Tangier, and records how, as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, he became a patron of the new Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Her researches illustrate the changing views of mathematics at the time, and reinforce the argument for the 17th-century ‘scientific revolution'.
FRANCES WILLMOTH is currently working on an edition of John Flamsteed's correspondence. [East Anglian] Study of the life and varied career of SirJonas Moore (1617-79) - practical mathematician, teacher, author, surveyor, cartographer, Ordnance Officer, courtier and patron of astronomy - who was involved in the draining of the Great Level in the Fens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780851153216
Publisher:	Boydell & Brewer, Limited
Publication date:	04/01/1993
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

Editorial Reviews

Her fine book...meticulously researched. HISTORY OF SCIENCE An interesting and well-researched book... Through the study of Moore's emergence as a mathematician, Willmoth has added in a number of ways to our still hazy knowledge of the scientific circles current in England in the mid-seventeenth century. HISTORY A book of considerable erudition, primarily of use and interest to scholars engaged in studies of 17th-century science and mathematics. Illustrated with, inter alia, interestingplates taken from Moore's maps and books. Well indexed and, as one might expect in a work of such scholarship, well-documented in an extensive bibliography.

ANNALS OF SCIENCE

Her fine book...meticulously researched. HISTORY OF SCIENCE An interesting and well-researched book... Through the study of Moore's emergence as a mathematician, Willmoth has added in a number of ways to our still hazy knowledge of the scientific circles current in England in the mid-seventeenth century. HISTORY A book of considerable erudition, primarily of use and interest to scholars engaged in studies of 17th-century science and mathematics. Illustrated with, inter alia, interestingplates taken from Moore's maps and books. Well indexed and, as one might expect in a work of such scholarship, well-documented in an extensive bibliography. ANNALS OF SCIENCE

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