"I take _the word 'history'_ to relate to the question
'What happened in the past?';
by contrast, mathematicians (and scientists in general, and
even a distressing number of historians) take history to mean
'How did we get here?'
The difference between these two questions is worth pondering.
Answers to the second one draw _only_ on those parts of the
past that have led to our present situation; while a perfectly
respectable form of research, they can give quite mistaken
impressions about the aims and purposes of historical figures,
and the priorities they saw in their own work."
It is interesting that, in the last century, German historical research was
based on the conception that "Jede Epoche ist unmittelbar zu Gott und ihr
Wert beruht gar nicht auf dem, was aus ihr hervorgeht, sondern in ihrer
Existenz selbst." This conception of history is due to the influential
(founder of modern history ) German 19th century historian Leopold von
Ranke (1795 - 1886) and is quoted from his work: <Weltgeschichte>. 3.
Auflage Tl. 9, Abt. 2: <Ueber die Epochen der neueren Geschichte>. Leipzig
1888. 1. Vortrag vom 25. 9. 1854, Einleitung.
Actually, as was pointed out by Armin Hermann (Professor of the history of
Natural sciences and Technology, University of Stuttgart) "Die
Wissenschaftsgeschiche betrachtet bewusst auch untergegangene
Denkvorstellungen. Heutige Wertmassstaebe duerfen nicht in die Vergangenheit
projiziert werden; der Historiker muss vielmehr versuchen, jede Zeit
unabhaengig von der spaeteren Entwicklung zu verstehen." This quotation is
from the Begleitwort, p. XIII, of the book: Istva/n Szabo/: Geschichte der
mechanischen Prinzipien und ihrer wichtigsten Anwendungen, Birkhaeuser,
1976. This text is written in the spirit of 'How did we get here?' From
the very beginning of my own historical research I was put on the right
track (as I feel about it) by the conception of Leopold von Ranke applied
to the history of mathematics. So I welcome the interpretation of the
notion of history (of mathematics) given by the wellknown historian of
mathematics Prof. Grattan-Guinness in the above quotation from his latest
book.
Next, I should like to refer to some e-mails complaining about lack of
mention in Boyer, particularly in relation to Sophie Germain. Those
reference texts, even the notable ones, are produced according to the
particular circumstances of the current publisher; it does not matter
whether it is any board (consisting of scientists as with MAA) or anyone
else. Without knowledge of the particular policy of the publisher such
references are only of little value. According to Sophie Germain or any
other female mathematician one should look at the writings of these
mathematicians. This had been done by Szabo/ according to Sophie Germain in
his above mentioned book on mechanics; in chapter IV (History of the linear
theory of elasticity for homogenous and isotropic materials), part D
(History of the theory of thin shells) there are 8 sections in relation to
this subject beginning with (2) the acoustics by Ernst Florens Friedrich
Chladni, after it, (3) the theory of shells by Jacob II Bernoulli, (4)
Chladnis stay at Paris and the price competition (<Donnez la the/orie des
surfaces e/lastiques et la comparez a\ l'expe/rience>) of the French Academy
of Sciences, (5) the theory of shells by Sophie Germain (partial solution),
(6) the theory of shells by Kirchhoff (complete solution), ... To read this
(German written) book needs some training in the mathematics of theoretical
mechanics. Kirchhoff was able to complete the theory of shells because the
tress tensor (discovered by Cauchy and critical with this theory) and line
integrals (Integralsaetze von Gauss und Green: the transfomation of an
integral around a simple closed path into an integral over the included
region of the plane) were commonly familiar with Kirchhoff, but not with
Sophie Germain. When examining the price competition Lagrange pointed to
the fact, that the complete solution of the problem needed new mathematical
methods: the Integralsaetze of Gauss and Green unknown during that time.
Gerhard Warnecke