Stevin was born in Bruges, Flanders, an illegitimate child of socially prominent parents. He began his career as a bookkeeper, but eventually traded a clerical life for one of science. He traveled widely, working as an engineer, and by 1581 he was a student at the University of Leiden. There he became an important part of the scientific and commercial renaissance that swept the Netherlands, beginning its golden age of prosperity. The works of antiquity had been newly rediscovered, and those of Euclid, Apollonius of Perga, and Archimedes would play a large part in his own scientific accomplishments. (He added to this cultural revival by translating the works of Diophantus for the first time.)
Stevin is best known as a contributor to two branches of physics: statics (the science of forces producing equilibrium) and hydrostatics. Like Rene Descartes and Galileo, Stevin wrote not in Latin but in his own language. He published books on a variety topics, but devoted most of his studies to mathematics and engineering. His works are characterized by his uncommon skill in combining theory and practice, and his uncanny ability to foreshadow later discoveries. His principal work in statics is De Beghinselen der weeghconst, published in 1586. In it, Stevin described his most famous discovery, the law of inclined planes, which he proved by drawing an imaginary circle of connected, equal weights called a clootcrans, or wreath of spheres. The basic premise of the law is that less weight on a steep slope can balance more weight on a gentler slope. Stevin was so delighted with his find that beneath the illustration he wrote Wonder en is gheen wonder--" what seems mysterious can be understood". The phrase became his motto, and the clootcrans his seal, appearing on his letters, his instruments, and the title pages of his books. Stevin's other famous publication, De Beghinselen des waterwichts, was the first since antiquity to study Archimedes's principle of displacement. He added many new ideas of his own, including one that is the fundamental principle of hydraulics: the pressure exerted by a liquid depends only on its height, and not on the shape of its container. This meant that a small amount of fluid could produce a large amount of pressure if it was held in a long, narrow tube.In another branch of science, Stevin was upstaged by his contemporary Galileo. Although credit has historically been given to the Italian, it was Stevin who first refuted Aristotle 's mistaken belief that heavier bodies fall faster that light ones. He dropped two lead balls, one 10 times heavier than the other, from a height of 30 feet and found that they hit the ground simultaneously. He published his findings years before Galileo, but never attained the same degree of fame.
Stevin parted company with his fellow mathematicians on a few points. He believed, for example, that all numbers, even irrational or imaginary numbers, were basically alike, a view not widely held until the development of algebra. He also challenged the centuries-old Greek method of mathematical proof, reductio ad absurdum. He introduced a different means, which, although unwieldy, hinted at improvements made later in calculus. Neither was he afraid of controversy. In De Hemelloop (1608), an astronomical treatise, he explained and supported the Copernican theory, in which the Earth and other planets orbit the sun. This book was published several years before Galileo's famous clash with the pope over the same topic, and predated most other scientists' acceptance of a sun-centered cosmos.
Stevin found practical uses for much of his science. He was the first to publish values of magnetic declinations for specific locations and urged others to contribute their own findings. It soon became apparent, however, that such measurements were too fickle to be relied on worldwide. In an effort to improve navigation, Stevin tried to determine longitude, a problem that would finally be solved 300 years later with the invention of the chronometer. He also improved the windmills of his day, an important piece of technology in the Dutch landscape. Using his mechanical and mathematical skills, Stevin determined, given the variables of gears, blades, and sails that powered the mills, the pressure needed to raise the water and how much was drained with each revolution. In his later years, Stevin organized a school for engineers at Leiden. He settled down with a young woman named Catherine Cray, by whom he had four children (they were not married until after the third was born, however). One of them, his son Hendrick, became a scientist in his own right.
This is the complete article, containing 755 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
