Person: Bradwardine, Thomas
Thomas Bradwardine was an English mathematician and theologian who examined Aristotle's theories of dynamics.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- These are merely guesses based on the first definite date we know for Bradwardine and that is August 1321 when he became a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford.
- Although it is not certain, there is strong evidence to suggest that Bradwardine remained at Merton College until 1335.
- In 1333 Bradwardine was appointed canon of Lincoln then, in 1335, he joined the group of men surrounding Richard de Bury who was Bishop of Durham.
- Bradwardine was certainly part of Edward's invasion force.
- Bradwardine was elected Archbishop of Canterbury on 31 August 1348, but rather strangely Edward annulled the appointment.
- On 4 June 1349 Bradwardine was elected Archbishop of Canterbury for the second time, without it appears any objections from Edward.
- The Black Death had spread to England and France in 1348 and perhaps a third of the population of London died as a result at around the same time as Bradwardine.
- Bradwardine was a noted mathematician as well as theologian and was known as 'the profound doctor'.
- Perhaps it is not really so strange because Aristotle views were so fundamental to learning at that time that perhaps all that one could expect of Bradwardine was the reinterpretation of Aristotle's views on bodies in motion and forces acting on them.
- Bradwardine used a mathematical argument to show that these two were inconsistent.
- At some point, argues Bradwardine, the resistance will exceed the force so the body cannot move.
- Bradwardine then claims that an arithmetic increase in velocity corresponds with a geometric increase in the original ratio of force to resistance.
- For example Oresme followed Bradwardine's ideas of mechanics.
- Another interesting, but fallacious, argument was produced by Bradwardine when he tried to disprove atomism using geometry.
- Bradwardine was the first mathematician to study "star polygons".
- Other works by Bradwardine include the following.
- There is argument between historians about which arithmetic text is the one due to Bradwardine.
- On future contingents and In defence of God against the Pelagians and on the power of causes are Bradwardine's two major theological works.
Born about 1295, Chichester, England. Died 26 August 1349, Lambeth, London, England.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin England
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
-
- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
