1,720,965 research outputs found
Tychonic Worries on Newton: Comments from Book III of the 1822 Geneva Edition of Principia Mathematica
No full textThe third book of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica Philosophia Naturalis (Principia, hereafter) rigorously established the case for heliocentrism by integrating observations and Kepler’s laws. It is structured around two main hypotheses: first, that the cosmos has a static center located at the center of planetary motion, and second, that if Earth itself moved, this would concord with observational data. The first hypothesis directly mentions the possibility of having the Earth as a center, even if all the propositions claim that the correct center is the Sun. The Minimal Friars Thomas Le Seur (1703–1770) and François Jacquier (1711–1788), along with their editor Jean-Louis Calandrini, chose to collaborate and publish their influential commentary in Geneva (Newton 1822)—likely to avoid the Catholic prohibition on promoting heliocentrism. This article examines key contributions by these Commentators, highlighting their strong scientific focus and commitment to strengthening heliocentric principles in astronomy. It also discusses the educational aim evident in many extensive notes, especially on propositions that stress the transition from geo-heliocentric to heliocentric perspectives (notably propositions 4, 13, 14, and 16)
How to use Kepler’s first and second laws in a geo-heliocentric system? Ask G.B. Riccioli
Full text linkKepler’s laws provided sufficient geometry and kinematics to strengthen astronomers’ preference for heliocentrism. While Kepler outlined some dynamic arguments, they were not rigorous enough to turn his laws into kinematic tools. As a result, some astronomers found ways to reconcile Kepler’s findings with geo-heliocentrism. One of these was the Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli, who proposed a method known as the “epic-epicycle” (Riccioli, Almagestum novum, 1651). This paper will explore how Riccioli received and interpreted Kepler’s first and second laws within his own astronomical framework. This analysis will include a discussion of how Riccioli understood the concept of “physics” in his work, beginning with a study of the Sun’s motion (Riccioli, Astronomia reformata, 1665)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Scientia petita, Theologia manifesta: scientific rationality and theological proposals in the pandemic
Full text linkThe urgency of understanding the pandemic has exponentially increased the circulation of information. The main directions of information transfer have been internal, that is within scholarly communities, and external, that is towards the public. The very manner in which scientific communication is produced has also changed. While the difficulty of finding practical solutions has often created a sense of mistrust, it has also led to the emergence of an image of scientific rationality as progressive, collective and capable of growth. This image of Science makes it possible to understand and distinguish the epistemic and ontological dimensions of scientific analysis. Theology can identify an attitude of epistemic humility that is conducive to a better understanding of the role of the human being in relation to nature and as the protagonist of history in collaboration with God.This research was funded in part by National Science Centre, Poland, 2021/41/N/HS1/01338. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a CC-BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission
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