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The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
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This completely new translation, the first in 270 years, is based on the third (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 the Principia by I. Bernard Cohen, along with his and Anne Whitman's translation, will make this preeminent work truly accessible for today's scientists, scholars, and students.
- ISBN-100520088174
- ISBN-13978-0520088177
- PublisherUniversity of California Press
- Publication dateOctober 20, 1999
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions7 x 1.7 x 10 inches
- Print length974 pages
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"This translation is deeply impressive and will be the definitive version for a century to come. Cohen's guide is up-to-date on matters of Newton scholarship and free from discarded conjectures of the past."Curtis Wilson, St. John's College
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- Publisher : University of California Press (October 20, 1999)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 974 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0520088174
- ISBN-13 : 978-0520088177
- Item Weight : 3.11 pounds
- Dimensions : 7 x 1.7 x 10 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,604,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,580 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- #12,623 in Physics (Books)
- #67,401 in Unknown
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The translation is a new one, which is different from the classical translation by Motte. I cannot compare these two versions of translation, but satisficed with this one at hand.
If you want to learn physics. This book makes logical sense. This book sets you up for success. This is a keeper.
The authors set out to produce a modern translation of the third and final version of Newton's masterpiece which was originally written in Latin and published in 1726.
The first & only complete English translation of the Principia, before this new translation was made, was by Andrew Motte in 1729 - only three years after Newton's work in Latin appeared.
Motte's translation was revised and "modernized" several times in the intervening 270 years, the last being in the mid 1800's but it still was regarded as being almost as difficult and opaque as Newton's original.
This new translation by Cohen & Whitman is really two books in one. The first 370 pages of the 966 page work is "A Guide to Newton's Principia" and consists of eleven Chapters that explain the structure of Newton's work and how to read it. This part is indispensable to the modern reader. The last 596 pages is a careful translation into modern English of the original Latin version.
The Principia is one of the most difficult and inaccessible books ever written -- so much so, in fact that even John Locke (himself a pretty smart guy) had to ask Christian Huygens to explain much of it to him. This difficulty was intentional, because Newton did not want people who only understood math a little to try and undermine his arguments. For this reason, he rewrote book three so that only those who had read and understood book 1 could understand its concepts.
People laugh when I tell then that I own a book with a three hundred page introduction, but it's a book that needs a three hundred page intro. In their intro, Cohen and whitman describe the history of the principia, its structure, an explanation of where prior translations have fallen short, and -- most importantly -- note which of the Principia's sections have been most significant during and after Newton's time. This is helpful so that when you get to each section, you are more likely to notice which elements may have seemed most controversial, where he is taking down Descartes' vortices, etc. I'm not saying I agree 100% with cohen and whitman on all of their points, but they have produced a work that does not simply translate the book; it also shares the writers' substantial knowledge about the principia.
This is an essential and monumental translation. If you are at all interested in early modern science, you must own it.
The overall methods used in the Principia have found their use throughout modern physics practice--mathematical modelling, idealisations, theory-mediated measurements, etc. Even with the advent of General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory, we still do physics (in a broad fashion) in a way which is present in this book. No wonder, as a physicist-in-training, I found this work to be an exemplar, despite the less-than-satisfying results in some sections, as Newton himself admitted, of how natural science is to be done (notwithstanding its limitations, as unfortunately we learned the hard way).
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2016
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100% recommended edition if you're getting a copy of Principia.











