The Cambridge Companion to Newton

Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) 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 examine all the main aspects of Newton’s thought, including not only his approach to space, time, mechanics, and universal gravity in his Principia, his research in optics, and his contributions to mathematics, but also his more clandestine investigations into alchemy, theology, and prophecy, which have sometimes been overshadowed by his mathematical and scientific interests.

• Surveys whole range of Newton’s philosophical output • Very distinguished team of contributors • Accessible to students

List of figures; List of contributors; Preface; Introduction I. Bernard Cohen and George E. Smith; 1. Newton’s philosophical analysis of space and time Robert DiSalle; 2. Newton’s concepts of force and mass, with notes on the Laws of Motion I. Bernard Cohen; 3. Curvature in Newton’s dynamics J. Bruce Brackenridge and Michael Nauenberg; 4. The methodology of the Principia George E. Smith; 5. Newton’s argument for universal gravitation William Harper; 6. Newton and celestial mechanics Curtis Wilson; 7. Newton’s optics and atomism Alan E. Shapiro; 8. Newton’s metaphysics Howard Stein; 9. Analysis and synthesis in Newton’s mathematical work Niccolò Guicciardini; 10. Newton, active powers and the mechanical philosophy Alan Gabbey; 11. The background to Newton’s chemistry William Newman; 12. Newton’s alchemy Karin Figala; 13. Newton on prophecy and the Apocalypse Maurizio Mamiani; 14. Newton and eighteenth-century Christianity Scott Mandelbrote; 15. Newton versus Leibniz: from geometry to metaphysics A. Rupert Hall; 16. Newton and the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence Domenico Bertoloni Meli; Bibliography; Index.