Machines and Energy before 1500: a Commented Anthology

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Klaus Freitag, since 5/2016
• Subject Area: History of Science ; Mechanics ; Medieval History ; Economic and Social History
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 288718281

Technology before the great expansion of the European powers overseas. Formal models are i.a. Clagett's famous selection Edition "The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages" (1959) and Grant's "Sourcebook in Medieval Science" (1974). The claim related presupposes comprehensive source studies that go far beyond the excerpts finally selected. These excerpts are presented under five main headings: 1. Available power and fuels, 2. Expectations for new drive and energy resources (including the immediate concentration of solar radiation), 3. Increased machine efficiency, 4. Refined regulation and control, especially in horology and clockmaking, 5. Renewal of Mediterranean shipbuilding. We evaluate about 20 authors and consider as a stimulator the reception of ancient and Arabic authors, particularly Archimedes, Apollonius und Ibn al Haitam (Alhazen). Sources of military technology, largely studied recently by Leng, Hall, Schulz and others, will be considered only in the context of civil and mechanical engineering. The execution will be carried out by three experienced professionals with complementary skills, the first main part performed by the applicant. The "Commented Anthology" should be published in the Internet after three years, a performed book publication after a possible extension of one year. A complementary volume with just available materials on Leonardo da Vinci's critics of perpetual motion models, his studies on friction, shock, water power and the construction of burning mirrors, is scheduled to appear in the "Aachener Studien zur älteren Energiegeschichte" (Aachen Studies on Preindustrial Energy History).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Dietrich Lohrmann, from 5/2016 until 5/2016