Isaac Newton - Collected Works and Letters, incl. Principia (28 b...

* Isaac Newton - Collected Works and Letters, incl. Principia (28 books)

SIR ISAAC NEWTON (1643–1727) was an English mathematician, natural philosopher, theologian, alchemist and one of the most influential scientists in human history. Operating at the peak of the Scientific Revolution, his work synthesized geometry, physics, and astronomy into a single, cohesive framework. Newton’s profound curiosity led him to investigate the laws governing both terrestrial and celestial motion, bridging the gap between the mundane and the cosmic. His intellectual legacy established the bedrock of classical mechanics and modern engineering, forever altering humanity's approach to empirical science.

His crowning achievement, THE MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY (1687)—commonly known as the PRINCIPIA —completely dismantled the dominant Aristotelian worldview and established the groundwork for most of classical mechanics by describing universal gravitation and the three laws of motion. It has been called "the greatest scientific work in history" and "the supreme expression in human thought of the mind's ability to hold the universe fixed as an object of contemplation".

Newton's second major published work, OPTICKS (1704), shifted the scientific understanding of vision and color. The treatise analyses the fundamental nature of light by means of the refraction of light with prisms and lenses, the diffraction of light by closely spaced sheets of glass, and the behaviour of colour mixtures with spectral lights or pigment powders. It established modern physical optics and popularized the use of experimental evidence over pure philosophical speculation. A modern critical edition of Newton's OPTICAL PAPERS (1984) contains his Optical Lectures, delivered at Cambridge University between 1670 and 1672, and considered his first major scientific treatise.

While Newton published his physics and optics, his foundational work in mathematics remained largely hidden in private manuscripts during his lifetime. THE MATHEMATICAL PAPERS OF ISAAC NEWTON (1967–1981) is a complete edition in 8 volumes of all his known mathematical papers. They meticulously reconstruct how he had invented and fully structured his calculus by 1666, long before his rival Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz independently developed his own version, and show Newton applying calculus to solve complex geometric problems, calculate areas under curves, and determine the precise rates of changing quantities.

Newton's seven-volume CORRESPONDENCE (1959–1978) is the definitive, scholarly edition of Newton's entire surviving correspondence. The letters track the development of his ideas through debates with contemporaries like Robert Hooke, Christiaan Huygens, and John Flamsteed, and reveal Newton's complex personality—brilliant yet deeply paranoid, intensely secretive, and fiercely defensive of his intellectual property. The collection exposes the human friction, institutional politics, and personal obsession that drove the birth of modern physics.


The following books are in PDF format unless otherwise noted:

* Background to Newton's Principia: Dynamical Researches, 1664-84 [John Herivel] (Oxford, 1965)
* Certain Philosophical Questions: Newton's Trinity Notebook [ed. McGuire & Tamny] (Cambridge, 1983)
* Collected Works (Delphi Classics, 2016) – ePUB
* Newton: Texts, Backgrounds, Commentaries [ed. Cohen & Westfall] (Norton Critical Edition, 1995)
* Newton's Forgotten Lunar Theory [Nicholas Kollerstrom] (Green Lion, 2000)
* Optical Papers, Volume I: The Optical Lectures, 1670-1672 [ed. Shapiro] (Cambridge, 1984)
* Opticks, 4e (Dover, 1979)
* Philosophical Writings [ed. Janiak, revised edition] (Cambridge, 2014)
* Theological Manuscripts [ed. McLachlan] (Liverpool, 1950)
* Unpublished Scientific Papers [ed. Hall & Hall] (Cambridge, 1978)

== THE PRINCIPIA ==

* Principia [tr. Motte, revised Cajori] (California, 1934)
* Principia: The Authoritative Translation [tr. Cohen & Whitman] (California, 1999) – PDF
* Principia: The Authoritative Translation [tr. Cohen & Whitman] (California, 2016) – ePUB / PDF

== MATHEMATICAL PAPERS (Cambridge, 1967–1981) ==

* Mathematical Papers: Volume I, 1664-1666 [ed. Whiteside] (Cambridge, 1967)
* Mathematical Papers: Volume II, 1667-1670 [ed. Whiteside] (Cambridge, 1968)
* Mathematical Papers: Volume III, 1670-1673 [ed. Whiteside] (Cambridge, 1969)
* Mathematical Papers: Volume IV, 1674-1684 [ed. Whiteside] (Cambridge, 1971)
* Mathematical Papers: Volume V, 1683-1684 [ed. Whiteside] (Cambridge, 1972)
* Mathematical Papers: Volume VI, 1684-1691 [ed. Whiteside] (Cambridge, 1974)
* Mathematical Papers: Volume VII, 1691-1695 [ed. Whiteside] (Cambridge, 1976)
* Mathematical Papers: Volume VIII, 1697-1722 [ed. Whiteside] (Cambridge, 1981)

== CORRESPONDENCE (Cambridge, 1959–1978) ==

* Correspondence: Volume I, 1661-1675 [ed. Turnbull] (Cambridge, 1959)
* Correspondence: Volume II, 1676-1687 [ed. Turnbull] (Cambridge, 1960)
* Correspondence: Volume III, 1688-1694 [ed. Turnbull] (Cambridge, 1961)
* Correspondence: Volume IV, 1694-1709 [ed. Scott] (Cambridge, 1967)
* Correspondence: Volume V, 1709-1713 [ed. Hall & Tilling] (Cambridge, 1975)
* Correspondence: Volume VI, 1713-1718 [ed. Hall & Tilling] (Cambridge, 1976)
* Correspondence: Volume VII, 1718-1727 [ed. Hall & Tilling] (Cambridge, 1977)


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