Medieval physics at Oxford: who, what and why?

Abstract The University of Oxford was an important centre for natural philosophy including physics in particular during the Middle Ages. Among several important figures, the so-called Merton Calculators hold pride of place for their work integrating mathematics into physics. Their advances were influential across western Europe and formed part of Galileo Galilei’s new science of kinematics in the seventeenth century. The surviving syllabi show that Oxford students were expected to cover Aristotle’s natural philosophy in some detail, as well as the four branches of mathematics: arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy.