Greek physicist Archimedes' principle of the lever that "magnitudes of equal weight acting at equal distances are in equilibrium [mechanical equilibrium]" is one of the earliest examples of a subject in mechanics. [3]
In science, mechanics is the study of the interactions between matter and the forces acting on it. [1] Mechanics, according to the 1926 Anatomy of Science lectures of Gilbert Lewis, is the general science of the study of mass, space (geometry), and time; just as kinematics is the study of space (geometry) and time. [3]
History The term and subject of "mechanica" is said to be attributed to Aristotle or one of his followers known as the pseudo-Aristotle. [2]
Austrian physicist Ernst Mach's 1893 The Science of Mechanics: a Critical and Historical Account of its Development, according to Gilbert Lewis, is said to be a "beautiful treatise" on mechanics in general and on its history. [4]
Thermodynamics | Mechanical theory of heat It should be noted that the expanded name of thermodynamics is "mechanische wärmetheorie" (German) or mechanical theory of heat (English), in the original 1865 terminology of German physicist Rudolf Clausius, the central founder of the subject, meaning that thermodynamics loosely translates as the study of the interactions between matter in relation to particularly the forces of heat acting on matter.
References 1. Daintith, John. (2005). Dictionary of Science. Oxford University Press. 2. Yan, Hong-Sen and Ceccarelli, Marco. (2009). International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM. Springer. 3. Lewis, Gilbert N. (1925). The Anatomy of Science (pg. 87). Silliman Lectures; Yale University Press, 1926. 4. Mach, Ernst. (1893). The Science of Mechanics: a Critical and Historical Account of its Development. Publisher.
