The Principia

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.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE: A Brief History of the Principia

CHAPTER TWO: Translating the Principia

CHAPTER THREE: Some General Aspects of the Principia

CHAPTER FOUR: Some Fundamental Concepts of the Principia

CHAPTER FIVE: Axioms, or the Laws of Motion

CHAPTER SIX: The Structure of Book 1

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Structure of Book 2

CHAPTER EIGHT: The Structure of Book 3

CHAPTER NINE: The Concluding General Scholium

CHAPTER TEN: How to Read the Principia

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Conclusion

THE PRINCI PIA (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy)

Halley’s Ode to Newton

Newton’s Preface to the First Edition

Newton’s Preface to the Second Edition

Cotes’s Preface to the Second Edition

Newton’s Preface to the Third Edition

Definitions

Axioms, or the Laws of Motion

BOOK 1: THE MOTION OF BODIES

BOOK 2: THE MOTION OF BODIES

BOOK 3: THE SYSTEM OF THE WORLD