Underground Mathematics : Craft Culture and Knowledge Production in Early Modern Europe

Thomas Morel tells the story of subterranean geometry, a forgotten discipline that developed in the silver mines of early modern Europe. Mining and metallurgy were of great significance to the rulers of early modern Europe, required for the silver bullion that fuelled warfare and numerous other uses. Through seven lively case studies, he illustrates how geometry was used in metallic mines by practitioners using esoteric manuscripts. He describes how an original culture of accuracy and measurement paved the way for technical and scientific innovations, and fruitfully brought together the world of artisans, scholars and courts. Based on a variety of original manuscripts, maps and archive material, Morel recounts how knowledge was crafted and circulated among practitioners in the Holy Roman Empire and beyond. Specific chapters deal with the material culture of surveying, map-making, expertise and the political uses of quantification. By carefully reconstructing the religious, economic and cultural context of mining cities, Underground Mathematics contextualizes the rise of numbered information, practical mathematics and quantification in the early modern period. Cover Half-title page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Underground Mathematics Numeracy, Trust, and the Circulation of Knowledge Tools of Visualization and Control A Sinuous Path 1 Of Scholars and Miners Mining and Geometry in the Middle Ages Georgius Agricola and the Humanist Tradition in the Ore Mountains The Scope of Geometry in the De re metallica Similar Pictures of Similar Triangles Geometria Theoretica, Practica, and Subterranea Courtly Instruments and Scholarly Methods 2 A Mathematical Culture: The Art of Setting Limits Geometry and the Rules of Law Claiming a Concession The Ubiquity of Measurements The Birth of a Profession ‘A Trustworthy Geometer on the Mountain of Our Lord’ Obeying the Laws of God and Geometry 3 The Mines and the Court The Rise of Mining Cities An Elector’s Geometry of Power Engineering the Mining States Charting Kingdoms Courtly Instruments in a Practical Context Diverging Paths 4 Writing It Down: Innovation, Secrecy, and Print An Elusive Tradition Actions, Words, and Numbers Learning the Geometria subterranea Manuscripts, Secrecy, and Knowledge Circulation How to Print a Vade Mecum? Authority, Authorship, and Practices 5 ‘So Fair a Subterraneous City’: Mapping the Underground The Mine as Subterranean City ‘For No One Can See through Stone...’ The Freiberga subterranea A Technical and Political Work Maps and Books as Reform Tools Administrating Data 6 How to Teach It? Finding the Right Direction The Mining Universitas and Its Limits Lost in Transition: Johann Andreas Scheidhauer Mathematics at the Mining Academy The Challenges of Teaching Higher Mathematics The Engineers and the Professor 7 ‘One of Geometry’s Nicest Applications’: Crafting the Deep-George Tunnel (1771–1799) Thinking on Paper Fine-Tuning the Tunnel Jean-André Deluc Enters the ‘Subterraneous Labyrinths’ A Deep Connection Travelling to the Harz Conclusion Bibliography Index "Underground Mathematics tells the story of a forgotten discipline: subterranean geometry. Through vivid case studies, it tells how geometry was used in metallic mines, from surveying to mapmaking, by practitioners using esoteric manuscripts. The book contextualizes in a non-technical way how a culture of accuracy and quantification developed in early modern Europe"-- Provided by publisher Morel tells the story of subterranean geometry, a forgotten discipline that developed in the silver mines of early modern Europe where mining and metallurgy were of great significance. Through vivid case studies, he illustrates how geometry was used in metallic mines, from surveying to map-making, by practitioners using esoteric manuscripts. History of the development of practical mathematics in early modern Europe through the practice of mining