The Principia: The Authoritative Translation and Guide

Using freshly conceived methods and tools of inquiry in his 1687 publication of Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton showed that the universe is knowable. But more importantly, he showed that the universe is predictable. We owe modern civilization to this towering genius of science.—Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History Newton's Principia Mathematica was the definitive achievement of seventeenth-century mathematics and natural philosophy. It has remained the indispensable foundation for all subsequent physical sciences. Thanks to this magnificent edition and detailed commentary, it has at long last become possible to make sense of that achievement in its own terms, and to follow exactly what it meant to its author and his readers. Lucid translation and the guide to the work's contents together offer an unmatched display of how the powers of mathematical reasoning and observational inquiry can help make sense of the system of the world.—Simon Schaffer, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge