Micrograph.
From Natura Rerum| N° d'inventaire | 31422 |
| Format | 14 x 20 |
| Détails | 446 p., 38 B/W ill. |
| Publication | Paris, 2024 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782252047774 |
From the beginning of the 17th century century, attempts at microscopic observations were made, but in such a timid and fragmentary manner that no new science had germinated. Robert Hooke's work, Micrography , published in 1665, marks a fundamental milestone in the history of modern science, for which it could have served as a manifesto. For the first time, a set of microscopic observations covering the three kingdoms of nature was recorded in a single book.
Hooke reveals the way to empirically observe things unknown and invisible to the naked eye, joining to his experiments the first illustrations of this "new world". The number and quality of Hooke's plates incontestably place Micrograph as the founding book of microscopic science. Its superb and incredibly precise engravings contributed greatly to the work's immediate success. His contemporary Samuel Pepys went so far as to note in his Diary: "[it] is the most ingenious book I have ever read in my life."
But it turns out that the work's fame is not up to its historical importance, since we are offering here the very first complete and illustrated French translation. Robert Hooke is in fact much more famous in the Anglo-Saxon scientific field where he places himself at the rank he objectively deserves. Because, in addition to Micrography , the scientist employed by the Royal Society, was an outstanding experimenter who rubbed shoulders with the greatest biologists, physicists, chemists and philosophers of his time. In the tradition of Descartes, he was responsible, among other things, for the invention of a large number of machines, devices and mechanical parts. A polymath scientist, he was recently called the "English Leonardo da Vinci", a particularly apt expression. Our edition includes Robert Hooke's sixty observations, in which the relevant figures are embedded. A non-textual notebook completes the reading, reproducing all thirty-eight of Hooke's plates, as close as possible to the formats of the first edition. Introduction and translation from English (United Kingdom) by Xavier Carteret.
From the beginning of the 17th century century, attempts at microscopic observations were made, but in such a timid and fragmentary manner that no new science had germinated. Robert Hooke's work, Micrography , published in 1665, marks a fundamental milestone in the history of modern science, for which it could have served as a manifesto. For the first time, a set of microscopic observations covering the three kingdoms of nature was recorded in a single book.
Hooke reveals the way to empirically observe things unknown and invisible to the naked eye, joining to his experiments the first illustrations of this "new world". The number and quality of Hooke's plates incontestably place Micrograph as the founding book of microscopic science. Its superb and incredibly precise engravings contributed greatly to the work's immediate success. His contemporary Samuel Pepys went so far as to note in his Diary: "[it] is the most ingenious book I have ever read in my life."
But it turns out that the work's fame is not up to its historical importance, since we are offering here the very first complete and illustrated French translation. Robert Hooke is in fact much more famous in the Anglo-Saxon scientific field where he places himself at the rank he objectively deserves. Because, in addition to Micrography , the scientist employed by the Royal Society, was an outstanding experimenter who rubbed shoulders with the greatest biologists, physicists, chemists and philosophers of his time. In the tradition of Descartes, he was responsible, among other things, for the invention of a large number of machines, devices and mechanical parts. A polymath scientist, he was recently called the "English Leonardo da Vinci", a particularly apt expression. Our edition includes Robert Hooke's sixty observations, in which the relevant figures are embedded. A non-textual notebook completes the reading, reproducing all thirty-eight of Hooke's plates, as close as possible to the formats of the first edition. Introduction and translation from English (United Kingdom) by Xavier Carteret.