Simon Stevin
1548-1620
Flemish Mathematician and Engineer
Simon Stevin was the first to systematically develop the ideas of Archimedes on the equilibrium of solid bodies and liquids. He established the law of equilibrium for bodies on an inclined plane, explained Archimedes' law for submerged bodies, and propounded the hydrostatic paradox. He also greatly influenced the use of decimal fractions.
Stevin, known also as Stevinus, was born in 1548 at Bruges in present-day Belgium. He earned his living as a bookkeeper before leaving the southern Netherlands in 1581 for Holland. Settling in Leiden, he established himself as an engineer. As an advisor for the construction of mills, locks, and harbors he received several patents and attracted the attention of Maurice of Nassau, stadholder of Holland and commanderin-chief of the States Army. Maurice held him in high regard and regularly sought out his advice in matters of defense and navigation. Stevin was entrusted with the organization of a school for military engineers at Leiden (1600) and appointed quartermaster in the army (1604). A bachelor most of his life, he married Cartherina Cray in 1616; they had four children. He died in 1620, most likely at his home in The Hague.
Stevin wrote on a variety of subjects ranging from commerce and navigation to hydrostatics and music theory. His first book, Tafelen van Interest (1582), presents rules for calculating single and compound interest as well as tables for computing discounts and annuities. Such information was well known in the banking establishment but considered a trade secret. Stevin's tables quickly gained wide usage in the Netherlands. He also published a slim pamphlet persuasively arguing for the systematic use of the decimal fraction. Though the notation of De Thiende (1585) was awkward, Steven found a sympathetic audience. His ideas gained wider currency when John Napier (1550-1617), inventor of logarithms, championed and then greatly facilitated their use with the introduction of the decimal point.
In De Beghinselen der Weeghconst (1586) Stevin introduced what is perhaps his most famous discovery, the law of the inclined plane. He showed geometrically that a linked chain of spheres must remain motionless when hung over two inclined planes joined to form a triangle, in effect demonstrating that the gravitational force is inversely proportional to the length of the inclined plane. His geometric proof is the basis for the parallelogram method for analyzing forces. In De Beghinselen des Waterwichts (1586) he provided the first systematic development of Archimedes' hydrostatics. He explained Archimedes' displacement principle for submerged bodies and showed that the pressure exerted by a liquid on a surface depends on the height of the liquid above that surface and is independent of the shape of the vessel containing it. Also in 1586, he experimentally refuted Aristotle's (384-322 B.C.) claim that heavier bodies fall faster than lighter ones.
In 1608 he revealed himself as one of the earliest converts to Copernicanism with the publication of De Hemelloop. Additionally, he developed a theory of the tides and tried his hand at solving the problem of determining longitude at sea, proposing a method based on deviations of compass needles from the astronomical meridian. Stevin's corpus also includes works on military fortification, music theory, civic life, and various treatises on engineering, including two books devoted to sluices and locks that he had helped design.
Stevin lived during a period of general scientific resurgence attendant upon the commercial and industrial prosperity of the Netherlands and northern Italy during the sixteenth century. Reflecting the new spirit of confidence of the time, Stevin chose to write in the vernacular. This required his introducing new scientific terms, many of which remain part of the Dutch scientific vocabulary.
This is the complete article, containing 600 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
