Optical Diagrams as “Paper Tools”: Della Porta’s Analysis of Biconvex Lenses from De refractione to De telescopio
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Optical Diagrams as “Paper Tools” : Della Porta’s Analysis of Biconvex Lenses from De refractione to De telescopio. / Borrelli, Arianna.
The Optics of Giambattista Della Porta (ca. 1535–1615). ed. / Arianna Borrelli; Giora Hon; Yaakov Zik. Cham : Springer Nature AG, 2017. p. 57-96 (Archimedes; Vol. 44).Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Optical Diagrams as “Paper Tools”
T2 - Della Porta’s Analysis of Biconvex Lenses from De refractione to De telescopio
AU - Borrelli, Arianna
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - In the last decades, the epistemic relevance of mediation and representation strategies in the construction of scientific knowledge has been demonstrated by a large number of studies. Words, symbols, formulas or diagrams on a page provide an essential and epistemically independent means to connect, reflect and expand instrumental and laboratory experience. Historian of science Ursula Klein has introduced the term "paper tool" to describe this kind of function in the case of early chemical formulas, and in the present contribution I will argue that optical ray-tracing diagrams acted as "paper tools" in Della Porta's optical writings. Thanks to diagrammatic practices, Della Porta was able to extend to lenses the connection between light focusing properties and visually perceivable effects that had been recently established for convex mirrors. At the core of the connection stood the ambiguous concept of "point of inversion", and in the present paper we shall follow Della Porta's innovative attempts of adapting it from reflecting to refracting systems using diagrams as paper tools.
AB - In the last decades, the epistemic relevance of mediation and representation strategies in the construction of scientific knowledge has been demonstrated by a large number of studies. Words, symbols, formulas or diagrams on a page provide an essential and epistemically independent means to connect, reflect and expand instrumental and laboratory experience. Historian of science Ursula Klein has introduced the term "paper tool" to describe this kind of function in the case of early chemical formulas, and in the present contribution I will argue that optical ray-tracing diagrams acted as "paper tools" in Della Porta's optical writings. Thanks to diagrammatic practices, Della Porta was able to extend to lenses the connection between light focusing properties and visually perceivable effects that had been recently established for convex mirrors. At the core of the connection stood the ambiguous concept of "point of inversion", and in the present paper we shall follow Della Porta's innovative attempts of adapting it from reflecting to refracting systems using diagrams as paper tools.
KW - Early Modern Period
KW - Glass Sphere
KW - Image Inversion
KW - Inverted Image
KW - Spherical Mirror
KW - Media and communication studies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077345854&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-50215-1_4
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-50215-1_4
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85077345854
SN - 978-3-319-84348-3
SN - 978-3-319-50214-4
T3 - Archimedes
SP - 57
EP - 96
BT - The Optics of Giambattista Della Porta (ca. 1535–1615)
A2 - Borrelli, Arianna
A2 - Hon, Giora
A2 - Zik, Yaakov
PB - Springer Nature AG
CY - Cham
ER -