23 - 24 November 2018, Workshop on Mathematical and Astronomical Practices in pre-Enlightenment Scotland and her European Networks, St Andrews, Scotland

The workshop will focus on Scottish natural philosophy and mathematics, and their innovative developments between 1550 and 1750. Traditional Scottish historiography of the period has been framed in terms of religious factions. The question of how scientific innovations flourished in this context has been little addressed.

We are particularly interested in mathematical practices related to measurement both in astronomy and in contexts such as navigation, surveying, cask gauging, grain measuring, and so on. Some apparently paradoxical processes of conceptual change in early modern mathematics, such as of ratio and proportionality, can only be understood by examining the mathematical collective tacit knowledge developed through practices with measuring instruments. Such instruments, and the associated practices, concepts, and books, circulated through networks of exchange.