On Light: Robert Grosseteste

Robert Grosseteste was appointed Bishop of Lincoln in 1235 and was a foremost master of Oxford. His work De Luce (On Light), translated by Claire C. Reidl, M.A., features two parts: the first elucidates the metaphysics of light, the second Grosseteste's cosmogony. Grosseteste maintains the necessity of mathematics in the study of physical nature, which he develops alongside metaphysical notions in order to describe the formation of the thirteen spheres of the universe. Grosseteste's De Luce is a prime example of philosophical-scientific synthesis.