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{{Short description|Deterministic model of the universe}}
{{Redirect|World machine|the album by Level 42|World Machine}}

], Canberra, Australia (2009)]] ], Canberra, Australia (2009)]]


In the ], the '''clockwork universe''' compares the universe to a mechanical clock. It continues ticking along, as a perfect machine, with its gears governed by the ], making every aspect of the machine predictable. In the ], the '''clockwork universe''' compares the universe to a ]. It continues ticking along, as a perfect machine, with its gears governed by the ], making every aspect of the machine predictable.


== History ==
⚫ This idea was very popular among ]{{ref}} during the ], when ] derived his ], and showed that alongside the law of universal ], they could explain the behaviour of both ] and the ].

⚫ This idea was very popular among ]{{ref}} during the ], when ] derived his ], and showed that alongside the law of universal ], they could predict the behaviour of both ] and the ].


A similar concept goes back, to ] early 13th-century introduction to astronomy: '']''. In this widely popular medieval text, Sacrobosco spoke of the universe as the ''machina mundi'', the machine of the world, suggesting that the reported eclipse of the Sun at the crucifixion of Jesus was a disturbance of the order of that machine.<ref>John of Sacrbosco, ''On the Sphere'', quoted in Edward Grant, ''A Source Book in Medieval Science,'' (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1974), p. 465.</ref> A similar concept goes back, to ] early 13th-century introduction to astronomy: '']''. In this widely popular medieval text, Sacrobosco spoke of the universe as the ''machina mundi'', the machine of the world, suggesting that the reported eclipse of the Sun at the crucifixion of Jesus was a disturbance of the order of that machine.<ref>John of Sacrbosco, ''On the Sphere'', quoted in Edward Grant, ''A Source Book in Medieval Science,'' (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1974), p. 465.</ref>


Responding to ],<ref>{{cite book |last= Danielson |first= Dennis Richard |date= 2000 |title= The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the Universe from Heraclitus to Hawking |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYr-swEACAAJ&q=editions:ISBN0738202479 |publisher=] |page=246 |isbn=0738202479}}</ref> a prominent supporter of the theory, in the ], ] wrote:


⚫ :"The Notion of the World's being a great Machine, going on without the Interposition of God, as a Clock continues to go without the Assistance of a Clockmaker; is the Notion of Materialism and Fate, and tends, (under pretence of making God a Supra-mundane Intelligence,) to exclude Providence and God's Government in reality out of the World."<ref>Davis, Edward B. 1991. "Newton's rejection of the "Newtonian world view" : the role of divine will in Newton's natural philosophy." Science and Christian Belief 3, no. 2: 103-117. Clarke quotation taken from article.</ref>


⚫ In 2009, artist Tim Wetherell created a large wall piece for ] (The National Science and Technology centre in Canberra, Australia) representing the concept of the clockwork universe. This steel artwork contains moving gears, a working clock, and a movie of the ].
There was an inherent contradiction in the views of some 17th-century thinkers, who believed the universe ran like clockwork, according to ], yet also in a God who interfered with the world to perform miracles and punish sinners.<ref name=Dolnick>{{cite book|last=Dolnick|first=Edward|title=The Clockwork Universe : Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World|year=2012|isbn=0062042262|page=18}}</ref>


Responding to ] {{fact|date=February 2013}}, a prominent supporter of the theory, in the ], Clarke wrote:

⚫ :"The Notion of the World's being a great Machine, going on without the Interposition of God, as a Clock continues to go without the Assistance of a Clockmaker; is the Notion of Materialism and Fate, and tends, (under pretence of making God a Supra-mundane Intelligence,) to exclude Providence and God's Government in reality out of the World."<ref>Davis, Edward B. 1991. "Newton's rejection of the "Newtonian world view" : the role of divine will in Newton's natural philosophy." Science and Christian Belief 3, no. 2: 103-117. Clarke quotation taken from article.</ref>


==See also==
⚫ In 2009 artist ] created a large wall piece for ] (The National Science and Technology centre in Canberra, Australia) representing the concept of the clockwork universe. This steel artwork contains moving gears, a working clock, and a movie of the moon's terminator in action.
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{reflist}}


== Further reading == ==Further reading==
* ] (1961) ''The Mechanization of the World Picture'', ]
* ], , Harper Collins, 2011. * ] (2011) , HarperCollins.
* "A Short Scheme of the True Religion", manuscript quoted in ''Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton'' by Sir David Brewster, Edinburgh, 1850; cited in; ibid, p.&nbsp;65. * David Brewster (1850) "A Short Scheme of the True Religion", manuscript quoted in ''Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton'', cited in Dolnick, page 65.
⚫ * Webb, R.K. ed. Knud Haakonssen. "The Emergence of Rational Dissent." ''Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in Eighteenth-Century Britain''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. p.&nbsp;19.
* ] (1938) ''Die Mechanisierung des Weltbildes im 17. Jahrhundert''
⚫ * Webb, R.K. ed. Knud Haakonssen (1996) "The Emergence of Rational Dissent." ''Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in Eighteenth-Century Britain'', ] page 19.
* Westfall, Richard S. ''Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England''. p.&nbsp;201. * Westfall, Richard S. ''Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England''. p.&nbsp;201.
* Riskins, Jessica (2016) '''', ].


==External links== ==External links==
* ''The Physical World''. Ed. John Bolton, Alan Durrant, Robert Lambourne, Joy Manners, Andrew Norton. * {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214215544/http://physicalworld.org/restless_universe/html/ru_2_11.html |date=2020-02-14 }} ''The Physical World''. Ed. John Bolton, Alan Durrant, Robert Lambourne, Joy Manners, Andrew Norton.


] ]
] ]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 16:25, 17 March 2023

Deterministic model of the universe
Tim Wetherell's Clockwork Universe sculpture at Questacon, Canberra, Australia (2009)

In the history of science, the clockwork universe compares the universe to a mechanical clock. It continues ticking along, as a perfect machine, with its gears governed by the laws of physics, making every aspect of the machine predictable.

History

This idea was very popular among deists during the Enlightenment, when Isaac Newton derived his laws of motion, and showed that alongside the law of universal gravitation, they could predict the behaviour of both terrestrial objects and the Solar System.

A similar concept goes back, to John of Sacrobosco's early 13th-century introduction to astronomy: On the Sphere of the World. In this widely popular medieval text, Sacrobosco spoke of the universe as the machina mundi, the machine of the world, suggesting that the reported eclipse of the Sun at the crucifixion of Jesus was a disturbance of the order of that machine.

Responding to Gottfried Leibniz, a prominent supporter of the theory, in the Leibniz–Clarke correspondence, Samuel Clarke wrote:

"The Notion of the World's being a great Machine, going on without the Interposition of God, as a Clock continues to go without the Assistance of a Clockmaker; is the Notion of Materialism and Fate, and tends, (under pretence of making God a Supra-mundane Intelligence,) to exclude Providence and God's Government in reality out of the World."

In 2009, artist Tim Wetherell created a large wall piece for Questacon (The National Science and Technology centre in Canberra, Australia) representing the concept of the clockwork universe. This steel artwork contains moving gears, a working clock, and a movie of the lunar terminator.

See also

References

  1. John of Sacrbosco, On the Sphere, quoted in Edward Grant, A Source Book in Medieval Science, (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1974), p. 465.
  2. Danielson, Dennis Richard (2000). The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the Universe from Heraclitus to Hawking. Basic Books. p. 246. ISBN 0738202479.
  3. Davis, Edward B. 1991. "Newton's rejection of the "Newtonian world view" : the role of divine will in Newton's natural philosophy." Science and Christian Belief 3, no. 2: 103-117. Clarke quotation taken from article.

Further reading

External links

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