Listing of Sessions and Abstracts of Papers - History of Science ...

of a later period were done in collaboration by Arabic and Greek speaking people, working first on a
transliteration of the Arabic text transliterated into Greek alphabet and, then, translating it properly.
These conclusions are of primary importance because they probably can be transferred to other enterprises
of translation (e.g. the translation of Greek science into Latin in the Late Antique World or into
Arabic during the 9th century). This will contribute to a better understanding of the process of transfer of
knowledge in the medieval Mediterranean.
Touwaide,Alain
E-mail Address:
Arabic Medicine in Greek Translation--How was it Translated?
Turner,Roger
E-mail Address: hssexec@u.washington.edu
Tybjerg, Karin
E-mail Address: kt206@cam.ac.uk
A Geometry of Machines: Hero of Alexandria's Mechanical and Mathematical Treatises
Hero of Alexandria's treatises on geometry, measurement and mechanics provide an intriguing mixture
of systematic geometrical treatment and consideration of practical issues. They include strictly
geometrical formulae for calculating areas, but they also deal with practical situations such as tunnel
construction or the measurement of land. This mixture of interests makes Hero's work difficult to place
and it is often characterized vaguely and unhelpfully as 'applied mathematics'. In my paper I shall
explore in more detail how Hero combines the incontrovertibility of geometry with his own claims to
practical consequence. Hero associates his work with geometry he makes frequent references to
Archimedes and he constructs Archimedes as an authority of mechanics rather than geometry. He also
expresses practical problems, for example tunnel construction, in a formulaic style similar to Euclidean
demonstrations. At the same time he shows how geometry affords control in political situations such as
the distribution of land or siege-war. Hero thus employs the high epistemological status of mathematics
to project an image of mechanics as a systematic discipline. But he does more than that. He makes
mechanical devices and methods part of geometry so that geometry can be complete only when mechanical
devices are included. Moreover Hero shows how his combination of mechanical and practical
expertise affords control over the environment and over enemies in situations of war. Hero of
Alexandria's use of geometry makes manifest how 'mixed' or technical forms of knowledge appropriated
and redefined disciplinary categories to make powerful claims to expertise.
Van Berkel, Klaas
E-mail Address: k.van.berkel@let.rug.nl
The fruits of war. Dutch science under German occupation, 1940-1945
When Hitler Germany invaded one European country after another, serious scientific work was soon
interrupted until well after the war. This may be true for countries in Eastern Europe, but whether it is
also true for countries in Northern and Western Europe is open to discussion. A close look at for instance
Dutch science in this period reveals some of the complexities of this problem. After the initial disarray
Dutch scientists found many ways to continue their research in more or less normal ways only during
the final year of the war scientific work really collapsed, as can be demonstrated in the case of physics.