Adelard of Bath

The frontispiece of an Adelard of Bath Latin translation of Euclid's Elements, c. 1309–1316; the oldest surviving Latin translation of the Elements is a 12th century work by Adelard, which translates to Latin from the Arabic.^[1]

Adelard of Bath (Latin: Adelardus Bathensis) (c. 1080 – c. 1152) was a 12th century English scholar. He is known both for his original works and for translating many important Arabic scientific works of astrology, astronomy, philosophy and mathematics into Latin, as well as some ancient Greek texts in Arabic translation, which were then introduced to Western Europe. He studied at Tours, taught for a time at Laon, then travelled to Southern Italy, Syracuse in Sicily, and Antioch in Asia Minor. He had settled in Bath in England by 1122.^[2] He was a contemporary of William of Conches, and a gentleman who was accomplished in both the arts of falconry and the harp.^[3]

Background

One of the first to introduce the Indian number system to Europe. He wrote a book called "Liber algorismi de Numero Indorum". His highly regarded original works, the Quaestiones Naturales (Natural Questions), the De Eodem et Diverso (On the Same and the Different) and a shorter treatise On Birds were addressed to his nephew in the form of dialogue or correspondence. In the Natural Questions he indicates he is responding to his nephews' desire to know what Adelard had learned "from the studies of the Arabs," while in the others he passes on Greek and English learning.^[4] Adelard also displays original thought of a scientific bent, raising the question of the shape of the Earth (he believed it round) and the question of how it remains stationary in space, and also the interesting question of how far a rock would fall if a hole were drilled through the earth and a rock dropped in it, see center of gravity. He theorized that matter could not be destroyed, see Law of conservation of matter and was also interested in the question of why water experiences difficulty flowing out of a container that has been turned upside down, see atmospheric pressure and vacuum. Many of the other questions addressed reflect the popular culture of the times. In On the Same and the Different he contrasts the virtues of the seven liberal arts with worldly interests.

In Quaestiones Naturales he wrote, "If we turned our backs on the amazing rational beauty of the universe we live in, we should indeed deserve to be driven therefrom, like a guest unappreciative of the house into which he has been received." ^[5]

Main Work

He translated the astronomical tables of al-Khwarizmi and the Introduction to Astrology of Abū Ma'shar. He wrote a short treatise on the abacus (Regulae abaci). He wrote a treatise on the astrolabe. Although Euclid's Elements was known and studied in the original Greek in the Byzantine Empire,^[6] the text had been lost to Western Europe until Adelard, around 1120 translated it into Latin from an Arabic version. One modern work claims that he accomplished this by disguising himself as a Muslim student in order to obtain an Arabic version in Muslim Córdoba.^[7] However, this claim is incompatible with the biographical details assembled by Burnett, which document no travels by Adelard to Córdoba.^[8]

Johannes Campanus probably had access to Adelard's translation of Elements, and it is Campanus' edition that was first published in Venice in 1482 after the invention of the printing press. It became the chief textbook of the mathematical schools of Western Europe until the sixteenth century. ^[9]

See also

• Latin translations of the 12th century

Notes

Further reading

• Ball, Philip. (2008). "Triumph of the medieval mind," Nature, Vol. 452, pp. 816-818.
• Burnett, Charles, ed. and trans. (1999). Adelard of Bath, Conversations with His Nephew: On the Same and the Different, Questions on Natural Science and On Birds. With the collaboration of Italo Ronca, Pedro Mantas España, and Baudouin Van den Abeele. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39471-6
• Burnett, Charles. (1987). Adelard of Bath: an English scientist and Arabist of the early twelfth century. Warburg Institute, University of London.
• Clagett, Marshall. (1970). "Adelard of Bath". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 61-64. ISBN 0684101149. 
• Cochrane, Louise. (1995). Adelard of Bath: The First English Scientist. London: British Museum Press. paperback ISBN 0-7141-1748-X
• Haskins, Charles H. (1927). "Adelard of Bath,"pp. 20-42 in Haskins, Studies in the History of Medieval Science. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• Thorndike, Lynn. (1923). A History of Magic and Experimental Science: During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our Era, Volume II. Columbia University Press, New York and London, 1036 pages. pp. 19-49. ISBN 0-231-08795-0
• Lyons, Jonathan. (2009 ). The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization. New York : Bloomsbury Press.
• Hannam, James. (2009). God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science. London: Icon Books.

External links

• ADELHARD
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Adelard of Bath", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
• Adelhard (Adelard) of Bath - Give and take reason
• Adelard of Bath Timeline from the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
• Extract from Adelard's "Very Difficult Natural Questions"