‎BOSCOVICH (R.J.)‎
‎Philosophiae natualis theoria redacta ad unicam legem virium in natura existentium‎

‎Vienne, Bernardi, 1759, un volume in 4 relié en demi-basane havane, dos orné de fers à froid et de filets dorés, (reliure début XIXème), (quelques rousseurs, 1 mors très légèrement fendu), (2 - titre, monitum), 16pp. (epistola), 10 feuillets non chiffrés (avertissement, 322pp., 2 feuillets non chiffrés (index, errata), 4 planches dépliantes‎

Reference : 707

‎---- BEL EXEMPLAIRE ---- Deuxième édition AUGMENTEE D'UNE LETTRE DE 16 pages AU PERE Carolum SCHERFFER, LEQUEL EST A L'ORIGINE DES RECHERCHES DE BOSCOVICH ---- EXEMPLAIRE PROVENANT DE LA BIBLIOTHEQUE DE Charles RENOUVIER AVEC UNE NOTE MANUSCRITE SUR UN FEUILLET VOLANT ---- "THE BIRTH OF ATOMIC PHYSICS ---- EXERTED A FUNDAMENTAL INFLUENCE ON MODERN MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS". (PMM N° 203) ---- "Boscovitch's most important work, in which he developed his theory of "points" which are the first elements of all matter". (Honneyman N° 427 1st ed. 1758) ---- "Philosophiae naturalis theoria is now recognized as having exerted a fundamental influence on modern mathematical physics... Boscovich's theories are concerned in the first place with the constitution of matter, the behaviour of physical forces and the nature of atoms and of light. Lucretius's theory conceived of atoms as hard particles in continual motion in a void, influencing each other by impact... Newton was an atomist, with a clear notion of inter-atomic forces. Boscovich's views are different and come nearer certain ideas of modern physics. As the tile of his book implies, he considered that a single law was the basis of all natural phenomena and of the properties of matter ; that the multiplicity of physical forces was only apparent and due to inadequate mathematical knowledge. These "point-atoms" of Boscovisch were deemed to have a position - but no extension - in space, and to possess mass. Boscovich believed that each atom is surrounded by a field of force, alternately positive and negative through a number of cycles. The force exists whether there is at any point another atom for it to act upon, or not. Newton (and every other atomist) could not believe in the continuity of matter. The Theoria had an immediate success in scientific circles. Priestley read it. Boskovic's theory influzenced the position of nineteenth-century field physics with regard to the relations between space and matter ; it was employed by Faraday and Kelvin, and J.J. Thomson used its curve of forces to introduce the earliest concepts of atomic physics". (PMM N° 203 & Norman N° 277 1758 ed.**ARB3‎