The Heirs of Archimedes: Science and the Art of War through the Age of Enlightenment

Abstract

The integration of scientific knowledge and military power began long before the Manhattan Project. In the third century BC, Archimedes was renowned for his research in mechanics and mathematics as well as for his design and coordination of defensive siegecraft for Syracuse during the Second Punic War. This collection of essays examines the emergence during the early modern era of mathematicians, chemists, and natural philosophers who, along with military engineers, navigators, and artillery officers, followed in the footsteps of Archimedes and synthesized scientific theory and military practice. It is the first collaborative scholarly assessment of these early military-scientific relationships, which have been long neglected by scholars both in the history of science and technology and in military history. The book begins with the innovation of gunpowder weaponry in both Christian and Islamic states of the late medieval and Renaissance eras. Other topics include the cultural resistance to scientific techniques; the relationship of early modern science and naval power, particularly the intersecting developments in mathematics and oceanic navigation; the efforts by early practitioners and theorists of chemistry to increase the power and consistency of gunpowder; and the application of advanced scientific knowledge and Enlightenment ideals within the military engineering and artillery organizations of the eighteenth century. Brett D. Steele, a Researcher in the Systems Division of the Homeland Security Institute at Analytical Services, Inc., has taught engineering strategy and the history of science at UCLA and Stanford University. Tamera Dorland, a communications analyst, has taught literature and rhetoric at UCLA.