„Allen Kriegsoffizieren und Ingenieurs nützlich und dienlich“ – Visual Illustrations of Warfare in Mathematical Books of the Early Modern Period (online)

Mathematical sciences have always been an essential part of the military sector. This also applies to the Early Modern Period, when mathematics and its methods played an important role in various contexts of warfare, particulary with regard to the fields of fortification, navigation and, of course, artillery and ballistics. Both, authors and publishers of arithmetical and/or geometrical books never got tired of repeating and emphasising the great importance and the usefulness of their discipline in times of war.

Many of those mathematical works published in the 17th and 18th century that focused on military issues are characterised by an elaborate book design, especially by means of lavishly illustrated title pages, frontispieces and plates.

Johannes Kaminski, librarian of the ArithmeumLibrary, will give an overview of some particularly impressive mathematical-military prints from the historical book collection of the Arithmeum. The major focus will be put on the historical background of these works and on the fascinating, sometimes even martial elements of their visual presentation.

The talk will be given in English.

Please dial directly in via:

www.arithmeum.uni-bonn.de/Rechenmeister