The Equilibrium Controversy

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This book reviews a historical discussion about the question of whether a balance in equilibrium, after having been deflected, returns to its original position. This question captured the attention of philosophers and scientists for almost two millennia, from Greek antiquity to the sixteenth century when the equilibrium controversy became a central question among scholars. Two new sources related to this controversy are presented: an annotated copy of Jordanus de Nemore's Liber de ponderibus edited by Petrus Apianus in 1533 and an annotated copy of Giovanni Battista Benedetti's Diversarum speculationum mathematicarum et physicarum liber from 1585. Both works contain handwritten marginal notes by Guidobaldo del Monte, author of the most influential early modern text on mechanics. This study shows how a key aspect of mechanical knowledge the understanding of the positional effect of weight emerged as the result of a long-term historical development. --- 'Sources' of the Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge is a series presenting historical documents in a new format which combines the advantages of traditional printed books with those of the digital medium. In each volume a source text relevant for the history of knowledge is reproduced, typically in facsimile, together with an introduction and commentaries reflecting original scholarly work. The volumes are available both as print-on-demand books and as open-access publications on the Internet. The material is freely accessible online at www.edition-open-access.de, supplemented by additional information and interactive features. The original works reproduced in this series are typically rare books or manuscripts that are not readily accessible in libraries.