The invention of atmosphere |
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| Authors: | Craig Martin |
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| Institution: | History Department, Oakland University, 416 Varner Hall, Rochester, MI 48309, USA;Department of English & Philosophy, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA;Department of Philosophy, University of Washington, Box 353350, Seattle, WA 98195, USA;University of Texas at Austin, United States;University of Manchester, United States;Hendrix College, United States;The W. Maurice Young Center for Applied Ethics, 227-6356 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada;Philosophy Department, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA;Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48825, USA;Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48825, USA;Department of Philosophy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48825, USA |
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| Abstract: | The word “atmosphere” was a neologism Willebrord Snellius created for his Latin translation of Simon Stevin's cosmographical writings. Astronomers and mathematical practitioners, such as Snellius and Christoph Scheiner, applying the techniques of Ibn Mu‘ādh and Witelo, were the first to use the term in their calculations of the height of vapors that cause twilight. Their understandings of the atmosphere diverged from Aristotelian divisions of the aerial region. From the early years of the seventeenth century, the term was often associated with atomism or corpuscular matter theory. The concept of the atmosphere changed dramatically with the advent of pneumatic experiments in the middle of the seventeenth century. Pierre Gassendi, Walter Charleton, and Robert Boyle transformed the atmosphere of the mathematicians giving it the characteristics of weight, specific gravity, and fluidity, while disputes about its extent and border remained unresolved. |
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| Keywords: | Atmosphere Atomism Simon Stevin Christoph Scheiner Pierre Gassendi Robert Boyle |
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