The Cambridge Companion to NewtonI. Bernard Cohen, George E. Smith Sir Isaac Newton was one of the greatest scientists of all time, a thinker of extraordinary range and creativity who has left enduring legacies in mathematics and the natural sciences. In this volume a team of distinguished contributors examines all the main aspects of Newtons thought, including not only his approach to space, time, mechanics, and universal gravity in his Principia and his research in optics and mathematics, but also his clandestine investigations into alchemy, theology, and prophecy, which have sometimes been overshadowed by his mathematical and scientific interests. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Newtons philosophical analysis of space and time | 33 |
Newtons concepts of force and mass with notes on the Laws of Motion | 57 |
Curvature in Newtons dynamics | 85 |
The methodology of the Principia | 138 |
Newtons argument for universal gravitation | 174 |
Newton and celestial mechanics | 202 |
Newtons optics and atomism | 227 |
Newton active powers and the mechanical philosophy | 329 |
The background to Newtons chymistry | 358 |
Newtons alchemy | 370 |
Newton on prophecy and the Apocalypse | 387 |
Newton and eighteenthcentury Christianity | 409 |
Newton versus Leibniz from geometry to metaphysics | 431 |
Newton and the LeibnizClarke correspondence | 455 |
Bibliography | 465 |
Common terms and phrases
1687 Principia absolute acceleration aether alchemy algebra analysis area law attraction Bernard Cohen bodies Book calculus Cambridge University Press Cartesian cause centrifugal force centripetal force century Christiaan Huygens circle circular motion Clarke colors conception Corollary corpuscles corpuscular Correspondence of Isaac curvature curve definition Descartes Descartes's distance Earth edition Edmond Halley ellipse empirical equal evidence experiments Galileo geometry gravity History Huygens hypotheses Ibid inertia inverse-square Isaac Newton John Jupiter Kepler's Latin laws of motion Leibniz Leibniz-Clarke correspondence Lemma letter light London lunar manuscript mathematical Mathematical Papers matter measure mechanical philosophy metaphysics method of fluxions Moon moving Natural Philosophy Newton's Principia Newton's theory Newtonian observations Opticks Oxford Papers of Isaac particles phenomena physical planetary planets principles problem proportional Proposition published quantity radius ratio refraction Robert Hooke rotation rule Scholium scientific Sir Isaac space tion trans translation universal gravity velocity Westfall Whiteside William Whiston