Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis quotes

[The mathematical character of Descartes' physics lies in its methodological nature, namely, the] axiomatic structure of the whole system, in the establishment of indubitable foundations and the deduction of the phenomena. (Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis)
Plato makes the cosmos a living being by investing the world-body with a world-soul. View quote
Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis
Classical mechanics is mathematical not only in the sense that it makes use of mathematical terms and methods for abbreviating arguments which might, if necessary, also be expressed in the language of everyday speech; it is so also in the much more stringent sense that its basic concepts are mathematical concepts, that mechanics itself is a mathematics. View quote
Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis
It is pointed out convincingly by George Sarton in The Life of Science that the development of science, as contrasted with that of art, is cumulative and progressive. Every scientist is educated in the current knowledge of his age and, making use of all he has learned, attempts to add something of his own to the existing body of knowledge. For this reason it is essentially impossible to isolate his personal achievements from the total pattern of scientific development. It follows that one cannot write the scientific life story of an isolated scholar, but only the history of the branches of science in which he participated. View quote
Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis
Mechanics... was an axiomatic construction; and... its problem could be solved quantitatively by algebraic methods. View quote
Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis