The Heirs of Archimedes: Science and the Art of War through by Brett D. Steele, Tamera Dorland

By Brett D. Steele, Tamera Dorland

The mixing of medical wisdom and army energy begun lengthy earlier than the new york undertaking. within the 3rd century BC, Archimedes used to be popular for his learn in mechanics and arithmetic in addition to for his layout and coordination of shielding siegecraft for Syracuse in the course of the moment Punic battle. This number of essays examines the emergence through the early smooth period of mathematicians, chemists, and average philosophers who, in addition to army engineers, navigators, and artillery officials, within the footsteps of Archimedes and synthesized medical idea and armed forces perform. it's the first collaborative scholarly overview of those early military-scientific relationships, that have been lengthy ignored by means of students either within the background of technology and expertise and in army history.From a ancient point of view, this quantity investigates the deep connections among principal manifestations of Western energy, interpreting the army context of the medical Revolution and the medical context of the army Revolution. in contrast to the vintage narratives of the clinical Revolution that concentrate on the theories of, and conflicts among, Aristotelian and Platonic worldviews, this quantity highlights the emergence of the Archimedean ideal--in which a symbiosis exists among the provision of mechanistic technology and the call for for army capability.From a security-studies standpoint, this paintings provides an in-depth examine of the principal parts of army strength in addition to their dynamic interactions in the political, acquisitional, operational, and tactical domain names. The essays during this quantity demonstrate the highbrow and cultural struggles to reinforce the services of those components--an workout in reworking army strength that is still correct for modern armed forces.The quantity units the degree by way of interpreting the innovation of gunpowder weaponry in either the Christian and the Islamic states of the past due medieval and Renaissance eras. It then explores such issues because the cultural resistance to clinical suggestions and the connection among early smooth technological know-how and naval power--particularly the intersecting advancements in arithmetic and oceanic navigation. different essays tackle the efforts of early practitioners and theorists of chemistry to extend the ability and consistency of gunpowder. the ultimate essays research the applying of complicated medical wisdom and Enlightenment beliefs to the army engineering and artillery companies of the eighteenth century. The quantity concludes through noting the worldwide unfold of the Archimedean perfect throughout the 19th century as a necessary potential for resisting Western imperialism.