Oxford translation of the Mertonian Mean Speed Theorem

1340

Mathematicians at Merton College, including Bradwardine and Heytesbury, derived a kinematic theorem describing uniformly accelerated motion: a body's distance equals what it would cover at its average speed. The proof used geometric reasoning that was startlingly modern in its precision. Galileo would rediscover the same proof three centuries later. Late medieval Oxford was quietly inventing physics.