Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CARTESIAN AND KIRCHERIAN MODELS OF THE EARTH
Sweden in winter at the best of times can be extremely cold, but today,
fortunately, few die of hypothermia in that country. In 1650, on the
other hand, sitting in a Swedish castle at 5 o'clock in the morning
discussing philosophy was a different matter, and in the case of Ren ´
Descartes it was a serious matter: it led to his contracting pneumonia
which quickly killed him.
Ren ´ du Perrot Descartes was born on 31 March 1596 in the
town of La Haye near Tours in France. Today his birthplace is styled La
Haye-Descartes in his honour. He became the leading mathematician
and philosopher of his generation: in fact his influence lasted far longer
than his lifetime and extended way beyond the boundaries of his
native France. He was fond of his bed, and did much of his thinking
and writing while warmly wrapped up. At an early age he accepted the
views of Copernicus concerning the Solar System and set out to write a
topic on the nature of the Universe. However, this was soon aban-
doned when he heard that Galileo had been strongly criticised by the
papal authorities for a similar topic. Descartes entered the French
army which provided a secure income and, because he was an officer,
plenty of time to think. On his discharge he settled in the Netherlands
where he married and had two daughters. His most famous topic was
Discours de la me´thode pour bien conduire sa raison, published in
1637, in which he wrote the renowned line, 'I think, therefore I am'.
Starting from a position of self-doubt, Descartes established a mechan-
ical methodology which he applied to all of the Universe as well as to
the workings of the human body, which he showed could easily be
explained in purely mechanical terms. Many of his ideas are now
referred to as being 'Cartesian' after the Latin version of his name,
Renatus Cartesius. In mathematics he introduced the familiar square
root symbol
p
and the use of x and y in algebraic equations and in
coordinates used to plot positions in three-dimensional space. In 1649
he was persuaded to travel to Sweden where he was welcomed into the
court circles of Queen Christina. It was she who press-ganged poor
Ren
´
into
early
morning
philosophical
discussions
that
caused
