Table of Contents

Stevin's works mentioned in the text Prologue. The Low Countries in Stevin's day Chapter One. Simon Stevin and the Renaissance - Middle Ages, Renaissance and the Modern Age; Printing; The universities; The Renaissance in art, literature, science and technology; Simon Stevin: Scholar and Engineer; Box 1: How did Stevin know the works of the ancient Greeks? Chapter Two. Simon Stevin, religious exile? - The Bruges period; Box 1: Documents in the Bruges city archives; Box 2: Calvinism in Bruges between 1550 and 1584; Box 3: Important dates in Simon Stevin's life; Dedication to the Republic; Box 4: The University of Leiden; Box 5: A letter to the town council of Gdansk; Box 6: Maurice of Nassau; Married life and descendants Chapter Three. The man who 'invented' the decimal system - Decimal fractions for elementary calculations; Translations of Stevin's De Thiende; Uniform ways of counting and measuring; Box 1: The decimal system before and after Stevin; Box 2: An addition of decimal fractions; Box 3: Extracting roots; Box 4: Of weights and measures; Box 5: A chaotic monetary situation in the Low Countries; Box 6: Shakespeare and De Thiende; Box 7: The dollar and the disme Chapter Four. Engineer and Inventor - Patents; Box 1: Patent granted by the States of Holland on 17 February 1584; Mills; Box 2: The IJsselstein mill; Sluices; Hydraulic designs; Box 3: Extract from Van den handel der Waterschuyring onses Vaders Simon Stevin; Navigation; The Art of War (military science); Stevin as an architect Chapter Five. Economist avant la lettre - Introduction; The Nieuwe Inventie; Box 1: Double-entry or Italian bookkeeping; The Tafelen van Interest; Box 2: Le grand parti; Bookkeeping Chapter Six. Wonder en is gheen wonder - Introduction; The structure of De Beghinselen der Weeghconst; Box 1: The clootcrans; De Weeghdaet; De Beghinselen des Waterwichts and the Anvang der Waterwichtdaet; Box 2: Stevin was there before Pascal; Box 3: The pressure of water on vertical and inclined walls; Box 4: Why do ships float?; Summary: the significance of Stevin's work in physics Chapter Seven. The link between Italian and French algebra - Introduction; Box 1: Quadratic, cubic and quartic equations; Box 2: Completing a square with an example given by Al-Khwarizmi (c. 800); Geometrical numbers; Algebraic numbers and the representation of polynomials; Equations; The Rule of Algebra Chapter Eight. Stevin's contribution to the Dutch language - Stevin and the building of the Dutch language; Early printed editions of works on medicine and the natural sciences; Stevin's presence in the Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal; Neologisms and semantic neologisms Chapter Nine. Perspective - The historical context and pioneering aspect of Stevin's Vande Verschaeuwing; A short description of Vande Deursichtighe; Maurice, Stevin and Durer; Stevin's followers: De Vries, 's Gravesande -; Impact Chapter Ten. An extraordinary didactic genius: Stevin's 'visible language' - Introduction; Stevin's information graphics; Vanden Hemelloop Chapter Eleven. An unfinished composition - Introduction; Stevin divides the octave into 12 equal intervals; Box 1: Explanation of the most important ideas in the Singconst; 'Now in order to divide the monochord geometrically...' and the 'Arithmetical Division of the Monochord', Temperament in Stevin's time and the placing of the frets on the neck of a lute; What Verheyen had to say...; The historical place of Stevin's tone system Chapter Twelve. The resonance of Simon Stevin and his work - Introduction; Box 1: The statue of Simon Stevin in Bruges; Box 2: Stevin's books in the antiquarian book world; Stevin's influence on some of his contemporaries; Box 3: Simon Stevin: an innovator and polymath; Later reactions of eminent scholars

Reviews

...'magic' is only magic until it is properly understood; science was the means by which the unknown could be demystified. This admirable, well-illustrated book describes Stevin's work and assesses the significance of his many contributions to the advancement of knowledge."