Publication: Unidades Físicas, de José Muñoz del Castillo, Primer Libro de Análisis Dimensional en la Historia
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2017
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Universidad de Málaga
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Abstract
“Ningún volumen se ha consagrado al análisis dimensional hasta 1922 –cien años después de la aparición del Traité de Fourier– cuando P. W. Bridgman publicó el curso que había impartido en la Universidad de Yale.” Así se expresa Monod-Herzen (1976, p. 25). Entre ambos libros, Fourier 1822 y Bridgman 1922, fue Maxwell quien abonó el terreno para la consolidación de esta disciplina, y su semilla no cayó en terreno baldío. En España, sin ir más lejos, la labor de Maxwell arraigó desde bien pronto. Hasta tal punto que la historia desmiente al epistemólogo francés. Pues sí que hay un libro sobre análisis dimensional entre Fourier y Bridgman. Se trata de Unidades Físicas del físico español José Muñoz del Castillo, que lo publica en 1890, o sea treinta y dos años antes de la publicación del libro de Bridgman. Así pues Unidades Físicas se convierte en el primer libro dedicado al análisis dimensional. Naturalmente no voy a cuestionar que sea el Dimensional Analysis de Bridgman el primer tratado completo de esta disciplina. Pero no es el primer libro en el que se recoge el conocimiento de la teoría de las dimensiones misma, como podía ser conocida en el siglo XIX, veinticuatro años antes de la propuesta de Buckingham 1914 de su famoso Teorema Pi . El objeto de este artículo es remarcar la aceptación y desarrollo del análisis dimensional en la España del XIX, una circunstancia hasta ahora no suficientemente apreciada por la historiografía especializada.
“No book has been devoted to the dimensional analysis until 1922 –a hundred years after the appearance of Fourier’s Traité – as P.W. Bridgman published the course he taught at Yale University.” This is what Monod-Herzen (1976, p. 25) affirms. Between both books, Fourier’s 1822 and Bridgman’s 1922, James Clerk Maxwell paved the way for the consolidation of this discipline, and his seed did not fall on barren ground. In Spain, without going any further, the work of Maxwell root from soon. So much history belies the French epistemologist. Yes, there is a book on dimensional analysis between Fourier and Bridgman. It is Physical Units written by the Spanish physicist José Muñoz del Castillo, who published it in 1890, that is thirty-two years before the publication of the book by Bridgman. Physical Units thus becomes the first treatise devoted to dimensional analysis. Naturally I will not question that Bridgman’s Dimensional Analysis has been the first complete treatise on this discipline. But it is not the first book in which the theory of dimensions is presented, as it could be known in the nineteenth century, twenty four years before the proposal by Buckingham of his famous theorem π. The purpose of this article is to highlight the acceptance and development of dimensional analysis in Spain in the 19th century, a circumstance so far not sufficiently appreciated by the specialized historiography.
“No book has been devoted to the dimensional analysis until 1922 –a hundred years after the appearance of Fourier’s Traité – as P.W. Bridgman published the course he taught at Yale University.” This is what Monod-Herzen (1976, p. 25) affirms. Between both books, Fourier’s 1822 and Bridgman’s 1922, James Clerk Maxwell paved the way for the consolidation of this discipline, and his seed did not fall on barren ground. In Spain, without going any further, the work of Maxwell root from soon. So much history belies the French epistemologist. Yes, there is a book on dimensional analysis between Fourier and Bridgman. It is Physical Units written by the Spanish physicist José Muñoz del Castillo, who published it in 1890, that is thirty-two years before the publication of the book by Bridgman. Physical Units thus becomes the first treatise devoted to dimensional analysis. Naturally I will not question that Bridgman’s Dimensional Analysis has been the first complete treatise on this discipline. But it is not the first book in which the theory of dimensions is presented, as it could be known in the nineteenth century, twenty four years before the proposal by Buckingham of his famous theorem π. The purpose of this article is to highlight the acceptance and development of dimensional analysis in Spain in the 19th century, a circumstance so far not sufficiently appreciated by the specialized historiography.