The traditional story of the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century is currently undergoing extensive revision, with some arguing that the concept of a scientific revolution in the seventeenth century should be abandoned altogether. A study of the early work on mathematical probability theory of Jacob Bernoulli, a professor at Basel, Switzerland, his nephew Nicolaus Bernoulli, who taught at the University of Padua, and their relations to John Bernoulli, Jacob's brother, who worked at Groningen, in Holland, can help to shed a new perspective on seventeenth century scientific developments. The largest part of the research will concern early mathematical probability theory and its social context. There will also be consideration of proposed new interpretations of what happened in seventeenth century science from the feminist perspective. The project is expected to provide new insights about the scientific revolution. It furthers VPW program objectives to provide opportunities for women to advance their careers in science or engineering through research, and to encourage other women to pursue careers in these areas through the investigators' enhanced visibility as role models on the host campuses. In this project, the proposed activities which contribute to the second objective include: teaching a course on the Scientific Revolution and/or a course on the history of women in science, through which the investigator will examine and test new feminist interpretations against the evidence; and participating in the support activities of the Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science, and Engineering.
