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Oresme

Nicole Oresme, also known as Nicolas Oresme or Nicole Orem, was a French medieval philosopher, mathematician, economist, and bishop who lived roughly from 1320 to 1382. He was a prominent figure within the University of Paris scholastic tradition and later served as bishop of Lisieux. Oresme's work spanned philosophy, physics, astronomy, and political economy, and he was influential in shaping late medieval thought.

In natural philosophy and astronomy, Oresme produced notable writings on cosmology and the nature of motion.

In mathematics, Oresme is remembered for pioneering graphical methods to illustrate relationships between quantities. He introduced

In economics and policy, Oresme wrote on money, currency, and public finance, analyzing how monetary policy

Oresme’s work yielded a lasting legacy as a bridge between medieval scholasticism and early modern inquiry,

His
Le
livre
du
ciel
et
du
monde
(The
Book
of
Heaven
and
the
World)
combined
observation
with
Aristotelian
cosmology
and
offered
critical
reflection
on
the
prevailing
physics
of
motion
and
celestial
motion.
The
work
reflects
an
interest
in
how
bodies
move
and
how
the
heavens
relate
to
the
earth,
contributing
to
ongoing
debates
about
the
structure
of
the
cosmos.
what
are
now
called
Oresme
diagrams:
simple
graphs
that
plot
one
magnitude
against
another
to
show
proportional
relationships
and
rates
of
change.
These
diagrams
represented
an
early
and
influential
use
of
graphs
to
analyze
motion,
speed,
and
other
continuous
quantities,
anticipatory
of
later
analytical
and
graphical
techniques.
and
coinage
affect
prices
and
trade.
His
economic
writings
contributed
to
early
discussions
of
monetary
theory
and
the
regulation
of
exchange.
notable
for
both
its
conceptual
contributions
to
the
understanding
of
motion
and
its
early
use
of
graphical
representations
to
study
quantitative
relationships.