This book studies the Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin (1548-1620) as a new type of 'man of knowledge'. Traditionally, Stevin is best known for his contributions to the 'Archimedean turn'. This innovative volume moves beyond this conventional image by bringing many other aspects of his work into view, by analysing the connections between the multiple strands of his thinking and by situating him in a broader European context. Like other multi-talents ('polymaths') in his time (several of whom are discussed in this volume), Stevin made an important contribution to the transformation of the ideal of knowledge in early modern Europe. This book thus provides new insights into the phenomenon of 'polymaths' in general and in the case of Stevin in particular.

In Knowledge, Patents, Power, Marius Buning tells the complex story of how the emergence of a Dutch patent regime is related to wider issues concerning governmental control and innovation. Buning analyses the institutional framework in which "innovative knowledge" could develop in the Dutch Republic from a variety of perspectives. This is not only a comprehensive study of patent law and its administrative and legal framework during the first four decades of the Dutch republic, it also opens up new perspectives on a wide range of issues in cultural and political history- from truth claims in early modern science to issues concerning mercantilism and Dutch seventeenth-century processes of state formation.