Programska knjižica - Hrvatsko filozofsko društvo

ROGER BOSCOVICH AND POLEMICS
REGARDING VIS VIVA NOTION
One of the greatest polemics in the history of mechanics was the one initiated
by Leibniz’s paper Brevis dissertatio erroris memorabilis Cartesii et
aliorum circa legem naturae (Acta eruditorum, 1686) on the conservation of
quantity mv 2 , which he referred to as vis viva. Thus he attacked the proposal
previously formulated by Descartes, by which the quantity mv was conserved
in mechanical processes (as a scalar and not vector quantity). The mentioned
attempts where the first examples of motion conservation law, which would
play an important role in the future development of mechanics. A number
of questions were also posed, such as: Why are some quantities conserved
through motion? What quantities do we talk about? In this respect two special
cases were examined: collision of particles and free fall.
This polemic lasted over a century and it was very actively participated
by Newton’s followers. In 1745 Roger Joseph Boscovich also took part in the
polemic with his treatise De viribus vivis. According to him, it was merely
a controversy over the use of words, which is not quite true. It is important
to consider Boscovich’s attitudes regarding astronomy and cosmology, which
were very advanced according to official views, but at the same time very
conservative towards the state-of-the-art in science at that time. Nevertheless,
as universal thinker, Boscovich played a important role in the development of
ideas in physics. He strongly influenced the English school of physics in the
19th century.
Key words: living force, conservation laws, collision of particles, free fall, polemics,
motion
DRAGOSLAV STOILJKOVIĆ
Tehnološki fakultet, Univerzitet Novi Sad, Srbija /
Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
KAKO PRIMENITI BOŠKOVIĆEVU TEORIJU
U SAVREMENOJ FIZICI I HEMIJI
Nobelovac W. Heisenberg je 1958. napisao da je Boškovićeva Teorija prirodne
filozofije »ključ za razumevanje strukture materije«. To je 1993. ponovio
nobelovac L. Lederman navodeći da je ona »ključ za celokupnu modernu
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