Bradwardine, Thomas

Related Category: Mathematics: Biographies

(brăd´wərdēn), c.1295–1349, English mathematician, natural philosopher, and theologian. He was chaplain to Edward III (c.1338) and later Archbishop of Canterbury. As a mathematician he is known for his Tractatus de proportionibus velocitatum (1328), which attempted to derive novel quantitative relations between speed and force; as a natural philosopher he defended Aristotle's concept of the plenum against atomistic views. His major theological work, De causa Dei contra Pelagium, takes a determinist position on the problem of free will.