Claude Mydorge Reader and Interpreter of Apollonius’ Conics

Emilia Florio
Additional contact information
Emilia Florio: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy

Mathematics, 2021, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-26

Abstract: In 1639, the treatise Prodromi catoptricorum et dioptricorum sive Conicorum operis ad abdita radii reflexi et refracti mysteria praevij et facem praeferentis. Libri quatuor priores by Claude Mydorge was printed in Paris. This volume, which followed the printing of his first two books in 1631, has resonance especially in the writings of those who, after him, addressed the conics. This fact raises the question of who Mydorge was and what his knowledge of the “doctrine” of the conics was, what is the most appropriate cultural context in which to properly read this writing, and finally, what is the place of its content in the development of thought placed between the Veteres and the Recentiores . In this paper, I attempt to elaborate an answer to these different questions, with the aim of emphasizing how the author reads and interprets the first books of Apollonius’ Conics . Neither the treatise, nor the figure of Mydorge, have received much attention in the current literature, although he was estimated as a savant in Paris and he was believed by Descartes to be one of the greatest mathematicians of his time.

Keywords: history of mathematics; history of science; Mydorge; conics; Apollonius (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/9/3/261/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/9/3/261/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:9:y:2021:i:3:p:261-:d:488741

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

More articles in Mathematics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().