Sir Isaac Newton, the great English mathematician and physicist, was born on Christmas Day, 1642, the same year that Galileo died. He held a professorship at Cambridge University and represented the University in Parliament, reformed the English coinage as master of the mint, and for twenty-five years was president of the Royal Society. Along with Gottfried Leibniz, Sir Isaac Newton, the great English mathematician and physicist, was born on Christmas Day, 1642, the same year that Galileo died. He held a professorship at Cambridge University and represented the University in Parliament, reformed the English coinage as master of the mint, and for twenty-five years was president of the Royal Society. Along with Gottfried Leibniz, Newton is also credited with the development of calculus. His theory of the law of universal gravitation, the most important of his many discoveries, is expounded in his Principia. The treatise was formulated over a period of several years, and the text of the first of the three books was presented to the Royal Society at the close of April 1686. Samuel Pepys, as President, was authorized on June 30th to license it for publication. Unfortunately, the Society had just spent their book budget on a history of fish, so the initial cost of publication was borne by esteemed astronomer and comet-spotter Edmund Halley.
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, or Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, was first published in 1687. In this work, Newton describes universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, thereby laying the groundwork for classical mechanics, the basis for modern engineering which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. Newton also advanced the scientific revolution by showing that the motion of objects on Earth and other celestial bodies is governed by the same set of natural laws, thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism, the theory that the sun is at the center of the solar system. Legend has it that Newton developed his theory of gravity thanks to a falling apple. It is in this history-making tome that the fruit of Newton’s considerable genius is presented. First editions of this important work are housed in some of the most prestigious libraries and collections in the world, including Trinity College and Pepys College at Cambridge University and the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.
