GILBERT (William). DE MAGNETE, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno magnete tellure; Physiologia nova, plurimis & ...

GILBERT (William). DE MAGNETE, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno magnete tellure; Physiologia nova, plurimis & argumentis, & experimentis demonstrata. Londini. 1600.
GILBERT (William)
DE MAGNETE, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno magnete tellure; Physiologia nova, plurimis & argumentis, & experimentis demonstrata. Londini: Excudebat Petrus Short, 1600.

*8, A-V6; [16], 240 pp., 1 engrave: il.; 285 mm. Fine copy; full vellum; half chagrin modern box; trimmed red edges.

FIRST EDITION of the first English scientific treatise based on experimental methods of investigation and the founding work of magnetic and electrical science. William Gilbert was born on 24 May 1544 into a prosperous family in Colchester, Essex. Educated at St John's College in Cambridge, he remained there until 1569, acquiring all academic degrees in medicine and becoming a “senior fellow” of the College. During the next four years he traveled across Europe, spending most of his time in Italy, until he settled in London in 1573 as a doctor. His career was quite successful, having become president of the Royal College of Physicians in 1599 and three years later physician to Queen Elizabeth I. He died, apparently of the plague, on November 30, 1602. Although his career doctor had some brilliance, he is remembered today for his extraordinary and important investigations into magnetism and electricity that he recorded in his only book. Investigations were conducted between 1581 and 1600 in parallel with his medical career, discussing and presenting his experiences with his friends and companions who were invited to his home for this purpose and spending large sums of money to acquire instruments and equipment. necessary. The book is, in itself, a remarkable production, with 87 woodcuts printed in the text, 4 of which are full page, in addition to the capital letters at the beginning of each chapter, with care and graphic care above average for the time. The text itself consists of 115 chapters divided into six books, having the general characteristics of a modern thesis, starting with a discussion on the state of the art, then presenting the results of experiments, discussing a thesis and ending with its own conclusions and unresolved problems. The statements about the hypothesis that the Earth itself is a giant magnet (book I), the reports on experiments in magnetism and static electricity (book II), the experiments carried out with the “terrella”, the name given by Gilbert to a magnetic sphere that simulated the Earth (book III), the development of geographic magnetism (books IV and V) or terrestrial and astrological movements in which the Earth's rotating movement on its axis is referred to (book VI). It is important to remember that the great scientific works of the 17th century appeared after this fundamental work by Gilbert. For example, Newton's Principia was published in 1687, Kepler's Astronomia Nova in 1609 or Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius in 1610. It is, therefore, one of the founding works of modern science and one of the rarest and most valuable.