Philosophiae Naturalis et Principia Mathematica. by Isaac Newton
This month’s featured text is Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica. Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is arguably the most influential scientific thinker in English history (and certainly one of the most important in scientific history in general). He grew up in Lincolnshire and entered Cambridge University in 1661. He was appointed a fellow of Trinity College in 1667, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669, fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1671, and was first elected President of the Royal Society of London in 1703 (a position to which he was re-elected until the end of his life), and was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705, the first scientist to be knighted for his work. Newton lectured at Cambridge until 1697 and while there published his one of his most imporant works, the Philosophia naturalis principia mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), commonly known as the Principia published in 1687. He also sat in Parliament in 1698 and again in 1701, and became Master of the Royal Mint in 1699 (a position he held until 1727) while at the Mint, Newton published his other well-known work Opticks, published in 1704. Newton also invented a type of reflecting telescope, an improved sextant, and served on the Board of Longitude in 1714. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

The Principia laid the foundations of modern differential and integral calculus as well as the theories of optics and gravitation. In it are contained Newton's three laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation which he used to predict precisely the motions of stars, and the planets around the sun. It also reflects the new interest in science and technology that was taking place in the later part of the 17th century. Newton said that he "stood on the shoulders of giants" during the early modern period many scientific giants such as Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Keppler, Galileo Galilei, Robert Boyle, also began their work. Newton was an important part of what some have termed the "Scientific Revolution" in which older scientific theories based on the works of clasical authors like Aristotle, Plato, or indeed the Bible, were replaced by new ideas that changed how people viewed the very nature of the Universe and how it worked. Such changes in scientific theory were recognized by others, including Charles II King of England who founded the Royal Society in 1660 as "the Royal Society of London for the Improvment of Natural Knowledge." Newton's Principia is a reflection of this changing view in science as well as a foundational work for later discoveries.

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