Editing Mechanics (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of classical mechanics|History of quantum mechanics}}

=== Antiquity ===
{{Main|Aristotelian mechanics}}
The ancient [[Greek philosophy|Greek philosophers]] were among the first to propose that abstract principles govern nature. The main theory of mechanics in antiquity was [[Aristotelian mechanics]], though an alternative theory is exposed in the [[Pseudo-Aristotle|pseudo-Aristotelian]] ''[[Mechanics (Aristotle)|Mechanical Problems]]'', often attributed to one of his successors.

There is another tradition that goes back to the ancient Greeks where mathematics is used more extensively to analyze bodies [[Statics|statically]] or [[Dynamics (mechanics)|dynamically]], an approach that may have been stimulated by prior work of the Pythagorean [[Archytas]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zhmud|first=L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=of-ghBD9q1QC|title=Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans|publisher=OUP Oxford|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-928931-8|language=en}}</ref> Examples of this tradition include pseudo-[[Euclid]] (''On the Balance''), [[Archimedes]] (''On the Equilibrium of Planes'', ''On Floating Bodies''), [[Hero of Alexandria|Hero]] (''Mechanica''), and [[Pappus of Alexandria|Pappus]] (''Collection'', Book VIII).<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vPT-JubW-7QC&pg=PA19 A history of mechanics]''". René Dugas (1988). p.19. {{ISBN|0-486-65632-2}}</ref><ref name="mechanics">"[http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/01/a_tiny_taste_of_the_history_of.html A Tiny Taste of the History of Mechanics]". The University of Texas at Austin.</ref>

=== Medieval age ===
{{Main|Theory of impetus}}
[[File:Arabic machine manuscript - Anonym - Ms. or. fol. 3306 c.jpg|thumb|200px|Arabic machine in a manuscript of unknown date]]
In the Middle Ages, Aristotle's theories were criticized and modified by a number of figures, beginning with [[John Philoponus]] in the 6th century. A central problem was that of [[projectile motion]], which was discussed by [[Hipparchus]] and Philoponus.

Persian Islamic polymath [[Ibn Sīnā]] published his theory of motion in ''[[The Book of Healing]]'' (1020). He said that an impetus is imparted to a projectile by the thrower, and viewed it as persistent, requiring external forces such as [[air resistance]] to dissipate it.<ref name=Espinoza>{{cite journal | last1 = Espinoza | first1 = Fernando  | date = 2005 | title = An analysis of the historical development of ideas about motion and its implications for teaching | journal = Physics Education | volume = 40 | issue = 2| page = 141 | doi=10.1088/0031-9120/40/2/002|bibcode = 2005PhyEd..40..139E | s2cid = 250809354 }}</ref><ref name=Nasr>{{Cite book |title=The Islamic intellectual tradition in Persia |author=[[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]] & Mehdi Amin Razavi |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-7007-0314-2 |page=72}}</ref><ref name=Sayili>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37219.x|author=[[Aydin Sayili]]|date=1987|title=Ibn Sīnā and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile |journal= Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences|volume=500|issue=1|pages=477–482|bibcode=1987NYASA.500..477S|s2cid=84784804}}</ref> Ibn Sina made distinction between 'force' and 'inclination' (called "mayl"), and argued that an object gained mayl when the object is in opposition to its natural motion. So he concluded that continuation of motion is attributed to the inclination that is transferred to the object, and that object will be in motion until the mayl is spent. He also claimed that a projectile in a vacuum would not stop unless it is acted upon, consistent with Newton's first law of motion.<ref name="Espinoza" />

On the question of a body subject to a constant (uniform) force, the 12th-century Jewish-Arab scholar [[Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi]] (born Nathanel, Iraqi, of Baghdad) stated that constant force imparts constant acceleration. According to [[Shlomo Pines]], al-Baghdaadi's theory of [[Motion (physics)|motion]] was "the oldest negation of [[Aristotle]]'s fundamental dynamic law [namely, that a constant force produces a uniform motion], [and is thus an] anticipation in a vague fashion of the fundamental law of [[classical mechanics]] [namely, that a force applied continuously produces acceleration]."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia  | last = Pines  | first = Shlomo  | title = Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī , Hibat Allah  | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 26–28   | publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons  | location = New York  | year = 1970  | isbn = 0-684-10114-9 }}
<br />([[cf.]] Abel B. Franco (October 2003). "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''64''' (4), p. 521-546 [528].)</ref>

Influenced by earlier writers such as Ibn Sina<ref name="Sayili" /> and al-Baghdaadi,<ref name=Gutman>{{citation|title=Pseudo-Avicenna, Liber Celi Et Mundi: A Critical Edition|first=Oliver|last=Gutman|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|year=2003|isbn=90-04-13228-7|page=193}}</ref> the 14th-century French priest [[Jean Buridan]] developed the [[theory of impetus]], which later developed into the modern theories of [[inertia]], [[velocity]], [[acceleration]] and [[momentum]]. This work and others was developed in 14th-century England by the [[Oxford Calculators]] such as [[Thomas Bradwardine]], who studied and formulated various laws regarding falling bodies. The concept that the main properties of a body are uniformly accelerated motion (as of falling bodies) was worked out by the 14th-century [[Oxford Calculators]].

=== Early modern age ===
[[File:Taccola first piston.jpg|thumb|First European depiction of a [[piston]] pump, by [[Taccola]], {{Circa|1450}}.<ref>{{cite book| last = Hill | first = Donald Routledge | title = A History of Engineering in Classical and Medieval Times | location = London | publisher =  Routledge | year = 1996 | page = 143 | isbn =  0-415-15291-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MqSXc5sGZJUC&q=Taccola+first+piston&pg=PA143}}</ref>]]
Two central figures in the early modern age are [[Galileo Galilei]] and [[Isaac Newton]]. Galileo's final statement of his mechanics, particularly of falling bodies, is his ''[[Two New Sciences]]'' (1638). Newton's 1687 ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' provided a detailed mathematical account of mechanics, using the newly developed mathematics of [[calculus]] and providing the basis of [[Newtonian mechanics]].<ref name="mechanics"/>

There is some dispute over priority of various ideas: Newton's ''Principia'' is certainly the seminal work and has been tremendously influential, and many of the mathematics results therein could not have been stated earlier without the development of the calculus. However, many of the ideas, particularly as pertain to inertia and falling bodies, had been developed by prior scholars such as [[Christiaan Huygens]] and the less-known medieval predecessors. Precise credit is at times difficult or contentious because scientific language and standards of proof changed, so whether medieval statements are ''equivalent'' to modern statements or ''sufficient'' proof, or instead ''similar'' to modern statements and ''hypotheses'' is often debatable.

=== Modern age ===
Two main modern developments in mechanics are [[general relativity]] of [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]], and [[quantum mechanics]], both developed in the 20th century based in part on earlier 19th-century ideas. The development in the modern continuum mechanics, particularly in the areas of elasticity, plasticity, fluid dynamics, electrodynamics, and thermodynamics of deformable media, started in the second half of the 20th century.