In his monumental 1687 work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia
Mathematica, known familiarly as the Principia, Isaac Newton laid out
in mathematical terms the principles of time, force, and motion that
have guided the development of modern physical science. Even after more
than three centuries and the revolutions of Einsteinian relativity and
quantum mechanics, Newtonian physics continues to account for many of
the phenomena of the observed world, and Newtonian celestial dynamics is
used to determine the orbits of our space vehicles.
This authoritative, modern translation by I. Bernard Cohen and Anne
Whitman, the first in more than 285 years, is based on the 1726 edition,
the final revised version approved by Newton; it includes extracts from
the earlier editions, corrects errors found in earlier versions, and
replaces archaic English with contemporary prose and up-to-date
mathematical forms.
Newton's principles describe acceleration, deceleration, and inertial
movement; fluid dynamics; and the motions of the earth, moon, planets,
and comets. A great work in itself, the Principia also revolutionized
the methods of scientific investigation. It set forth the fundamental
three laws of motion and the law of universal gravity, the physical
principles that account for the Copernican system of the world as
emended by Kepler, thus effectively ending controversy concerning the
Copernican planetary system.
The illuminating Guide to Newton's Principia by I. Bernard Cohen makes
this preeminent work truly accessible for today's scientists, scholars,
and students.
