book: THE RAINBOW

Marcus L. Endicott (mendicott@igc.apc.org)
Sun, 03 Jan 1993 07:15:12 -0800 (PST)

THE RAINBOW: FROM MYTH TO MATHEMATICS
=====================================

by Carl B. Boyer

With New Color Illustrations and Commentary by Robert Greenler

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New
Jersey 08540

Copyright @ 1959 Sagamore Press, Inc.
Copyright @ 1987 Princeton University Press

First Princeton Paperback printing, 1987


>Contents
>
> Preface 7
>
> I. The Beginnings 17
>
> II. Greece and Rome 33
>
> III. The Earlier Middle Ages 66
>
> IV. European Revival 85
>
> V. Medieval Triumph and Decline 110
>
> VI. The Sixteenth Century 143
>
> VII. Kepler and His Contemporaries 178
>
>VIII. The Cartesian Theory and Its Reception 200
>
> IX. The Age of Newton 233
>
> X. A New Theory 269
>
> XI. The Mathematician's Rainbow 294
>
> Notes 323
>
> Selected References 355
>
> Index 367


> The rainbow has had hosts of admirers - more, perhaps, than any other
>natural phenomenon - but it has had few biographers. This volume, which
>contains a new section of color illustrations, is the first attempt to give a
>full account of ideas on the rainbow from antiquity through our own times.
>Beginning with Greek mythology, Carl Boyer has comber the scientific and
>imaginative writings of every era to show how the story of the rainbow became
>increasingly sophisticated. His last chapter is entitled "The
>Mathematician's Rainbow."
> This is the history of man's view of one physical phonomenon
>sufficiently spectacular to attract the attention of primitive man and
>sufficiently complex to attract that of the modern scientist. It would be
>difficult to imagine a case history better adapted to demonstrate the
>interest and value of the history of science. Carl Boyer has shown in
>previous works his competence to deal with both science and the history of
>science, and this book is authoritative and eminently thought-provoking.
> - Robert P. Mulhauf, Smithsonisn Institution
>
> "[THE RAINBOW] is the most comprehensive mathematical study of the
>rainbow ever published."
> - F. Lanier Graham in THE RAINBOW
>
> "Carl B. Boyer . . . demonstrates the infinite attention to detail
>necessary for the historical scholar, shows us that he has the objectivity of
>the true scientist, and possesses the analytical tools of the mathematician:
>but he has written primarily a biography, the biography of the rainbow."
> - THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
>
> "[This book] traces man's attempts to explain the cause of the rainbow,
>from ancient myths down to contemporary physical theories. . . . The
>complete history . . . is not only a fascinating intellectual puzzle, but a
>study in human personalities, conflicts and emotions as well."
> - THE BALTIMORE MORNING SUN
>
> Carl B. Boyer was Professor of Mathematics at Brooklyn College. He is
>the author of several books, including A HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS (Princeton
>Paperback) and THE HISTORY OF THE CALCULUS AND ITS CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT
>(Dover).

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