Roger Joseph Boscovich

Ruđer Josip Bošković (May 18th 1711, Raguse - February 13rd 1787, Milan), or Roger Joseph Boscovich , or Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich was a Jésuite, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, Latin poet and philosopher citizen of Raguse (today Dubrovnik, Croatia since August 1939).

Biography

Ruđer Josip Bošković begins its studies with the College of the Jesuits of Raguse. October 31st, 1725, to Rome, it enters to the noviciate of the Society of Jesus. During its studies with the the Roman College, most famous of its colleges, it redécouvre by itself the demonstration of the Theorem of Pythagore. It becomes mathematics professor there as of the end of his studies in 1740 and until 1770. It is charged by the pope with several scientific expeditions and diplomatic. He travels in England and in France, puts themselves in relation to the scientists of these two countries, is allowed in their academies and propagates in Italy the philosophy of Isaac Newton. He is received in 1760 with the Academy of Science of Saint-Péterbourg and elected official in 1761 with the Royal Society. After the suppression about the Jesuit S, it will profess with Pavia, then is destined for Paris as director of work of optics for the navy (1773 - 1786). It is made Sujet of the King de France in 1773 when it is named Directeur of optics of the Navy with Paris.

He dies in Milan, while he directed, with the Mayor, the measurement of a Degré of the meridian line. He is buried in the church of Santa Maria Podone.

Work

The contributions of Bošković to science concern:

problems of practical astronomy: the use of the Telescope (1739), and theoretical: sunspots (1736), orbit of Mercury (1737), Northern lights (1738), movement of the celestial bodies in the vacuum (1740), effects of the Revolved (1741);
the form and size of the Ground (1739), measurement of the Meridian S;
need for mathematics to solve the problems of science;
the structure of the matter;
the problem of the size, the Infinitely great and the Infinitely small : for Bošković, the infinite one did not exist in the natural world.

A crater on the moon bears its name.

Works

Like the majority of the scientists of its time, it published mainly in Latin, but also wrote according to the places and the correspondents, in Italian, French, German, and Croatian.

Of maculis solaribus (" The spots solaires"), 1736;
Of novo telescopii usu AD objected coelestia determinanda (" Use of the telescope in astronomie"), Rome, 1739;
Of circulis oscillatoribus (" The oscillation of the cercles"), 1740;
Of annuis stellarum fixarum aberrationibus (" Annual aberrations of the stars fixes"), Rome, 1742;
De Cometis (" Comètes"), Rome, 1746;
De Viribus vivis (" The Forces vives"), Rome, 1747;
De Lumine (" The lumière" , examination criticizes knowledge of the time), Rome, 1748;
Of materiae divisibilitate and principiis corporum dissertatio (" The divisibility of the matière"), 1748;
De Determinada orbited planeta (" Determination of the orbit of the planètes"), Rome, 1749;
Elementarum universae matheoso (" Elements of mathematics universelles"), Rome, 1754;
Of continuitatis light and ejus consectariis pertinentibus AD preceded materiae elementa eorumque transfer (" The principle of continuity and its effects on the matter elements and their forces") , 1754;
Of light virium in will natura existentium (" Forces existing in the nature"), 1755;
Of litteraria expeditione per Pontificam ditionem AD dimentiendos meridiani gradus and corrigendam mappam geographicam, iussu and auspiciis Benedicti XIV (" Report of the forwarding made on papal edict to measure the degree of mériden and to correct the geographical map, on order and under the auspices of Benoit XIV"), 1755;
Philosophiae naturalis theoria redacta AD unicam legem virium in naturã existentium (" Theory of natural philosophy for a unification of the forces of the nature"), Vienna, 1758, and Venice, 3° edition, 1763; theory of nature in which he explains all the phenomena by the fact that the matter is made up of simple points, indivisible, contiguous and without extension (what distinguishes them from the atoms) subjected to a gravitational attraction or repulsive according to the case, trying to reconcile thus Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz and Isaac Newton.

It presents a physical theory of the points to it forces:

* the matter is impenetrable. Two bodies cannot occupy the same positions at the same time (what evokes almost Pauli).

* the matter is dispersed in a vacuum and there floats.

* Ergo, the mutual forces between two points must be regarded as repulsive at certain distances and gravitational to other distances . At very short distances, the force must be repulsive, and this repelling power must decrease as the distance increases. At longer distances, certainly less than one thousandths of inch, the force becomes finally gravitational, variable contrary to the square of the distance as indicates it alternatively the law of Newton gravitational and repulsive.

* the points are never at absolute rest.

De Solis ac lunae defectibus (" Eclipses of the sun and the lune"), London, 1760, Rome, 1767. Latin poem.
Giornale di a viaggio da Constantinopoli in Polonia , 1762 (" Newspaper of a voyage from Constantinople in Pologne" , Paris 1772);
Rogerii Josephi Boscovich operated pertinentia AD opticam At maximum Astronomiam ex leaves nova and omnia huiusque inmedita, in quinque tomos distributa , (" Works relating to optics and the astronomie"), Rome, 1784; Bassano, 5 volumes in-4, 1785;
Of recentibus compertis pertinentibus AD perficiendam dioptricam (" Recent calculations to improve the optique"), 1767;
Of orbitus cometarum determinandis aperture trium observationum parum has invicem remotarum (" Determination of the orbits of comets by three remote observations "), Paris, 1774;
Dissertatio of husbands estu (" Essay on the marées").

Discusses on its nationality

At the time of Bošković the town of Raguse was an independent Republic, and if it had had to recognize successive suzerains (the emperor of Byzance, the République of Venice, the king of Hungary-Croatia…) to even pay tribute, in particular to the Othoman sultan, it did not belong to any Serb or Croatian State.

The modern concept of nationality based on the linguistic, religious and cultural membership was developed only at the end of the 19th century. For this reason, the attribution of a nationality defined in personalities of the centuries precede alive in areas by strong ethnic co-education is often disputed. Consequently, the heritage of Ruđer Josip Bošković is asserted by several states, the Croatia, the Italy, and the Serbia. These claims basing themselves most of the time on quotations selective of certain of its works, it are seemingly contradictory, presenting it like true Croatian or true Italian according to the choice of the quotations. Lastly, the nationality of the father of Ruđer Josip Bošković, it, is also disputed. It appears as a Croat, Serbe, Dalmate or Slavic Orthodoxe.

Finally, the majority of the dictionaries present Ruđer Josip Bošković as a Croat or Italian.

Comments on Ruđer Josip Bošković

Werner Heisenberg said of him: Among the scientists of the 18th century, Bošković takes an eminent place as a theologist, philosopher, mathematician and an astronomer. Its Theoria philosophiae naturalis states assumptions which found their confirmation during the fifty last years.

For Gustav Fechner: If I am not mistaken, Roger Boscovich, excel mathematician and physicist, should be regarded as the father of modern nuclear engineering.

For Friedrich Nietzsche: The erudite method of R. Boscovich represents a synthesis between an intuition of empirical and experimental nature and a suitable logical argumentation.

See too

External bonds

Ruđer Bošković Institute of Zagreb
Astronomical Society Rudjer Boskovic of Belgrade

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