Biomechanics

Historical highlights Historical highlights
Historical highlights
Antiquity – Greeks – Natural Philosophy
Thales (624-545 B.C.)
Pythagoras
(582 B.C.) &
Hippocrates
(470-360 B.C.)
From Nigg & Herzog (1994)
Natural science detached from religion
“…all things have form, all things are form, and all forms can be defined by
numbers”
Pythagoras believed that mathematical relations held the secrets of the
universe, including music.
Hippocrates’ emphasis on observation and experience of the senses
pioneered the use of rational scientific thought in the practice of
medicine.
Antiquity
Maya
Egyptians
Mesopotamians
Phoenicians
Greeks
Developed knowledge:
Astronomy, Mathematics, …
Leisure & Sport
Natural Philosophy
Golden age
Hellenistic age
Conquest by the Roman Empire
Historical highlights
Antiquity – Greeks – Golden age
Plato (427-347 B.C.) believed the world of senses to be an illusory shadow of
reality. Ideas were the only reality, and true knowledge could not be obtained
through the study of nature. The pursuit of truth required contemplation, not
action.
Politics and Ethics prevail.
Knowledge & Myth
Kinematics
and Art;
Surface
Anatomy
(Plato and Aristotle)
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) believed that mathematics provided a good model for a well-organized
science, and that science is aimed to explain nature.
Aristotle believed life was capable of mechanical expression. According to him, every motion
presupposed a mover.
All that is moved, should be moved by something else. The MOTOR must either be present within
the mobile, or be in direct contact with it. Action at a distance was inconceivable.
Aristotle's’ text About the Movement of Animals, described movement and locomotion (gait,
muscular action,…) for the first time, based on observation.
“… for just as the pusher pushes, so the pusher is pushed”