Simon Stevin: Difference between revisions

'''Simon Stevin''' ({{IPA-|nl|ˈsimɔn ˈsteːvɪnsteːˈvɪn|lang}}; 1548–1620), sometimes called '''Stevinus''', was a [[County_of_Flanders|Flemish]] [[mathematician]], scientist and [[music theorist]].<ref name="Grove">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Cohen |first=H. Floris |author-link=Floris Cohen |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Stevin, Simon |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.45068 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url= https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000045068 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}</ref> He made various contributions in many areas of [[science]] and [[engineering]], both theoretical and practical. He also translated various mathematical terms into [[Dutch language|Dutch]], making it one of the few European languages in which the word for [[mathematics]], ''[[wikt:en:wiskunde#Dutch|wiskunde]]'' (''[[wikt:en:wis#Dutch|wis]]'' and ''[[wikt:en:kunde#Dutch|kunde]]'', i.e., "the knowledge of what is certain"), was not a [[loanword]] from [[Greek language|Greek]] but a [[calque]] via [[Latin]]. He also replaced the word ''[[wikt:en:chemie#Dutch|chemie]]'', the Dutch for chemistry, by ''[[wikt:en:scheikunde#Dutch|scheikunde]]'' ("the art of separating"), made in [[analogy#Linguistics|analogy]] with ''[[wikt:en:wiskunde#Dutch|wiskunde]]''.

Very little is known with certainty about Simon Stevin's life, and what we know is mostly inferred from other recorded facts.<ref name=EJD>[[E. J. Dijksterhuis]] (1970) ''Simon Stevin: Science in the Netherlands around 1600'', The Hague: [[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]], Dutch original 1943, 's-Gravenhage</ref> The exact birth date and the date and place of his death are uncertain. It is assumed he was born in [[Bruges]], since he enrolled at [[Leiden University]] under the name ''Simon Stevinus Da Brugensis'' (meaning "Simon Stevin from Bruges"). His name is usually written as Stevin, but some documents regarding his father use the spelling ''Stevijn'' (pronunciation [ˈste:vεɪn]); this was a common spelling shift in 16th-century Dutch.<ref>[http://users.ugent.be/~gvdbergh/files/vlaamsestam.html (nl) G. Van de Bergh Het tijdschrift ''De Vlaamse Stam'', jaargang 34, pp. 323–328] and [http://users.ugent.be/~gvdbergh/files/vlaamsestam_fn.html#fn0 (nl) Bibliography to the Van Den Bergh article in ''De Vlaamse Stam']</ref>

Bookkeeping by double [[Double-entry bookkeeping]] may have been known to Stevin, as he was a clerk in [[Antwerp]] in his younger years, either practically or throughvia the medium of the works of Italian authors such as [[Luca Pacioli]] and [[Gerolamo Cardano]]. However, Stevin was the first to recommend the use of impersonal [[account (accountancy)|accounts]] in the national household. He brought it into practice for Prince Maurice, and recommended it to the French statesman [[Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully|Sully]].<ref>Volmer, Frans. [https://egrove.olemiss.edu/acct_corp/168 "Stevin, Simon (1548–1620)."] In ''History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia,'' edited by Michael Chatfield and Richard Vangermeesch. New York: Garland Publishing, 1996, pp. 565–566.</ref><ref name=EB1911/>

[[Category:Engineers offrom the Spanish Netherlands]]