The Birth of Physics

The Birth of Physicsfocuses on the largest text still intact to reach us from the Ancient Greek Atomists- Lucretius' De Rerum Nahra- but mobilises everything we know about the related scientific work of the time (Archemides, Epicurus et al) in order to demand a complete reappraisal of the legacy. Serres argues that the Greeks had all the mathematical resources to formulate an adequate picture of the physical principles acting on matter. Crucial to his reconception of the Atomists' thought is a recognition that thier model of atomic matter is essentially a fluid one- they are describing the actions of turbulence. This book is truly a landmark in the study of ancient physics and will promote not only more work in the are but also stimulate a more general rebirth of philosophical interest in the ancients.