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 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.
- ISBN10 0520088174
- ISBN13 9780520088177
- Publish Date 20 October 1999 (first published 20 September 1999)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 12 May 2016
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of California Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 991
- Language English