"Historians of science, teachers and students of the history and philosophy of science and mathematics will be astounded at the difference a few decades of research has made in the assessment of Newton's work. Most heartily recommended to all who seek authoritative and readable glimpses of Newton at work".Choice, 2001

Newtonian scholarship took great leaps forward in the second half of the 20th century. The completion of critical editions of Newton's mathematical papers and of his scientific correspondence, as well as the publication of the first volume of his optical papers and of variant readings of the "Principia" in the original Latin, have made most of Newton's scientific work available for study and analysis for the first time. This has provided a better understanding of Newton's "Principia" and "Optics" especially regarding their origin and interpretation, much of which has remained obscure for several centuries. Some of the new developments and insights are presented in this volume, by several of the scholars who have made these primary sources accessible, and by others who are using them to elucidate Newton's work. Most of the papers included were presented at the "Symposium on the Foundations of Newtonian Scholarship", held at the Royal Society in London in March 1997.

Newtonian scholarship has taken great steps forward in the last half-century. The recent completion of critical editions of Newton's mathematical papers and of his scientific correspondence, as well as the publication of the first volume of his optical papers and of variant readings of the Principia in the original Latin, have made most of Newton's scientific work generally available for study and analysis for the first time. This has provided a better understanding of Newton's Principia and Optics especially regarding their origin and interpretation, much of which has remained obscure for several centuries. Some of the new developments and insights are presented in this book by several of the scholars who have made these primary sources accessible, and by others who are using them to elucidate Newton's work. Most of the papers included were presented at the Symposium on Newtonian Scholarship, held at the Royal Society in London in 1997.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) was one of the greatest scientists of all time, a thinker of extraordinary range and creativity who has left enduring legacies in mathematics and physics. While most famous for his Principia, his work on light and colour, and his discovery of the calculus, Newton devoted much more time to research in chemistry and alchemy, and to studying prophecy, church history and ancient chronology. This new edition of The Cambridge Companion to Newton provides authoritative introductions to these further dimensions of his endeavours as well as to many aspects of his physics. It includes a revised bibliography, a new introduction and six new chapters: three updating previous chapters on Newton's mathematics, his chemistry and alchemy and the reception of his religious views; and three entirely new, on his religion, his ancient chronology and the treatment of continuous and discontinuous forces in his second law of motion.

Newton's philosophical analysis of space and time /Robert Disalle --Newton's concepts of force and mass, with notes on the Laws of Motion /I. Bernard Cohen --Curvature in Newton's dynamics /J. Bruce Brackenridge and Michael Nauenberg --Methodology of the Principia /George E. Smith --Newton's argument for universal gravitation /William Harper --Newton and celestial mechanics /Curtis Wilson --Newton's optics and atomism /Alan E. Shapiro --Newton's metaphysics /Howard Stein --Analysis and synthesis in Newton's mathematical work /Niccolò Guicciardini --Newton, active powers, and the mechanical philosophy /Alan Gabbey --Background to Newton's chymistry /William Newman --Newton's alchemy /Karin Figala --Newton on prophecy and the Apocalypse /Maurizio Mamiani --Newton and eighteenth-century Christianity /Scott Mandelbrote --Newton versus Leibniz : from geomentry to metaphysics /A. Rupert Hall --Newton and the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence /Domenico Bertoloni Meli.