De Re Geometrica: Writing, Drawing, and Preaching Mathematics in Early Modern Mines

Abstract

Georg Agricola’s De Re Metallica (1556) is an impressive work about mining arts and sciences, still used as a reference work to understand the mining world of his time and to analyze the relationships between scholars and practitioners. This essay begins by studying how Agricola presents the underground surveying, also known as geometria subterranea. How does the author’s mathematics relate to contemporary geometry or to actual surveying practices? Second, the essay contrasts his scholarly approach with sixteenth-century administrative and technical documents, as well as mining sermons. Comparing the practical geometry contained in the De Re Metallica with different kinds of sources helps to question the relationships between the arts and natural and exact sciences in the practical settings of early modern Europe. Finally, it argues for a distinction between the inquiry on the historical progress of mathematics in civil life and philosophical questions about the rise of new sciences.

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