1. On the nature of stuff

2016 ◽  
pp. 4-25
Author(s):  
William H. Brock
Keyword(s):  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Modern Chemistry ◽  
History Of

‘On the nature of stuff’ shows that the ability to control fire and temperature led to the first chemical technologies: the production of pottery from fired clays and tempers, metals, glass, and bitumen products. It goes on to describe the early speculation of matter by Greek philosophers, such as Empedocles and Aristotle, before discussing the history of alchemy in Europe and the Muslim empire. The same synonyms were often used for different substances resulting in confusion and secrecy. It was Isaac Newton (1642–1727) who compiled an index chemicus in an attempt to make sense of alchemical language and allegory. The demise of alchemy, the move from chymistry to chemistry, and the rise of modern chemistry are also considered.

Newton and the Origin of Civilization

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jed Z. Buchwald ◽  
Mordechai Feingold
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
One Year ◽  
Radical Ideas

Isaac Newton’s Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, published in 1728, one year after the great man’s death, unleashed a storm of controversy. And for good reason. The book presents a drastically revised timeline for ancient civilizations, contracting Greek history by five hundred years and Egypt’s by a millennium. This book tells the story of how one of the most celebrated figures in the history of mathematics, optics, and mechanics came to apply his unique ways of thinking to problems of history, theology, and mythology, and of how his radical ideas produced an uproar that reverberated in Europe’s learned circles throughout the eighteenth century and beyond. The book reveals the manner in which Newton strove for nearly half a century to rectify universal history by reading ancient texts through the lens of astronomy, and to create a tight theoretical system for interpreting the evolution of civilization on the basis of population dynamics. It was during Newton’s earliest years at Cambridge that he developed the core of his singular method for generating and working with trustworthy knowledge, which he applied to his study of the past with the same rigor he brought to his work in physics and mathematics. Drawing extensively on Newton’s unpublished papers and a host of other primary sources, the book reconciles Isaac Newton the rational scientist with Newton the natural philosopher, alchemist, theologian, and chronologist of ancient history.

scholarly journals Bibliography of recent books and articles dealing with the history of the Royal Society

1970 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-133
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
Charles Town ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
James Cook ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Sciences

Each number of Notes and Records contains a short bibliography of books and articles dealing with the history of the Royal Society or its Fellows which have been noted since the publication of the last number. If Fellows would be good enough to draw the Editor’s attention to omissions these would be added to the list in the next issue. Books Badash, L. (Editor). Rutherford and Boltwood: letters on radioactivity. (Yale studies in the History of Sciences and Medicine, Vol. 4.) New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969. $12.50. Begg, A. C. and Begg, N.C. James Cook and New Zealand . Wellington, N.Z.: A. R. Shearer, 1969. £ 2 5s. Berkeley, E. and Berkeley, Dorothy, S. Dr Alexander Gordon of Charles Town . University of North Carolina Press, 1969. $10.00. Bestcrman, T. Voltaire. London: Longmans, 1969. 8s. Bowden, D. K. Leibniz as a librarian and eighteenth-century librarians Germany . London: University College, 1969. 7s. 6d. Darwin, C. R. Questions about the breeding of animals . Facsim. repr. with an introduction by Sir Gavin Dc Beer. London: Society for the Bibliography of Natural History, 1969. £1 15s. Davis, N. P. Lawrence and Openhimer . London: Cape, 1969. 2s. Dobson, J. John Hunter. Edinburgh & London: E. & S. Livingstone, 1969. £ 2 10s. Eales, N. B. The Cole library of early medicine and zoology . Catalogue of books and pamphlets. Part 1. 1472 to 1800. Oxford: Aldcn Press for the Library, University of Reading, 1969. £$ 5s. Edleston, J. (Editor). Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes . (1830.) (Cass Library of Science Classics. No. 12.) London: Frank Cass, 1969. £ 6 6s. Fothergill, B. Sir William Hamilton . Faber and Faber, 1969. £ 2 10s. French, R. K. Robert Whytt, the soul, and medicine . (Publications of the Wellcome Institute, No. 17.) London: Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, 1969. £ 2 5s.

Time: A Very Short Introduction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenann Ismael
Keyword(s):  
History Of Physics ◽  
Philosophical Thinking ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Experience Of Time ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Nature Of Time ◽  
Everyday Living

Time: A Very Short Introduction explores questions about the nature of time that have been at the heart of philosophical thinking since its beginnings: questions like whether time has a beginning or end, whether and in what sense time passes, how time is different from space, whether time has a direction, and whether it is possible to travel in time. These questions passed into the hands of scientists with the work of Isaac Newton when the structure of space and time became connected to motion and included the subject matter of physics. This VSI charts the way that the history of physics, from Isaac Newton through Albert Einstein’s two revolutions, wrought changes to the conception of time. There are parts of physics that are in a state of confusion, but this strand of development is a story of philosophical illumination and conceptual beauty. The discussion here provides an opportunity to see what distinguishes the methods of physics from those of philosophy. It brings together physics, cognitive science, and phenomenology in the service of reconciling what modern theories tell us about the nature of time with the everyday living experience of time.

New Light on the History of Isaac Newton's Library

The Library ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
Karen Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Early History ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
Plausible Reason

Abstract In the standard scholarly work, The Library of Isaac Newton published by CUP in 1978, John Harrison makes two significant assumptions about the library’s early history which are incorrect. This paper highlights the necessary revisions, including the unnoticed role played by Mrs Jane Musgrave, Jane Austen’s godmother, in the library’s preservation. It also proposes for the first time a plausible reason why John Huggins, Warden of the Fleet Prison, bought the library from the executors immediately after Newton’s death.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Special Theory ◽  
Photoelectric Effect ◽  
History Of Physics ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
Instrument Making ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Eighteenth Century

This Handbook traces the history of physics, bringing together chapters on major advances in the field from the seventeenth century to the present day. It is organized into four sections, following a broadly chronological structure. Part I explores the place of reason, mathematics, and experiment in the age of what we know as the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. The contributions of Galileo, René Descartes, and Isaac Newton are central to this section, as is the multiplicity of paths to the common goal of understanding. Some of these paths reflected the turn to Thomas Kuhn’s category of ‘Baconian’ sciences — newer, more empirical investigations focused on heat, electricity, magnetism, optics, and chemistry. Part II looks at the ‘long’ eighteenth century — a period that covers developments relating to the physics of imponderable fluids, mechanics, electricity, and magnetism. Part III is broadly concerned with the nineteenth century and covers topics ranging from optics and thermal physics to thermodynamics, electromagnetism and field physics, electrodynamics, the evolution of the instrument-making industry between 1850 and 1930, and the applications of physics in medicine and metrology. Part IV takes us into the age of ‘modern physics’ and considers canonical landmarks such as the discovery of the photoelectric effect in 1887, Max Planck’s work on the quanta of radiation, Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity of 1905, and the elaboration of the various facets of quantum physics between 1900 and 1930.

President, patron, friend and lover: Charles Montagu's significance to the history of science

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-170
Author(s):  
Rebekah Higgitt
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Political Career ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century

Summary This article examines the legacy of Charles Montagu, Lord Halifax, within the history of science. Although he was President of The Royal Society from 1695 to 1698, Montagu is best known for his political career and as a patron of the arts. As this article shows, Montagu's own scientific interests were limited and his chief significance to the history of science lies in his friendship with a later President, Isaac Newton. It is argued, firstly, that their relationship had important, though indirect, consequences for The Royal Society and, secondly, that its treatment by historians of science has been revealing of changing views of the status of science and its practitioners. Particular attention is given to the approaches of the first generation of Newtonian scholars and biographers in the 19th century.

The Libraries of Newton, Hooke and Boyle

1966 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-55 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Scientific Theories ◽  
Robert Hooke ◽  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
Robert Boyle ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

The demand and search for the scientific literature of the past has grown enormously in the last twenty years. In an age as conscious as ours of the significance of science to mankind, some scientists naturally turned their thoughts to the origins of science as we know it, how scientific theories grew and how discoveries were made. Both institutions and individual scientists partake in these interests and form collections of books necessary for their study. How did their predecessors fare in this respect? They, of course, formed their libraries at a time when books were easy to find—and cheap. But what did they select for their particular reading? For example, what did the libraries of the three greatest scientists of the seventeenth century, Sir Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke and Robert Boyle, look like? Fortunately in the case of Newton, the history of his books is now fairly clear, thanks to the devoted labours of Colonel R . de Villamil (i), but it is a sad reflection on our attitude to our great intellectual leaders that this library o f the greatest English scientist, whose work changed the world for hundreds of years, was not taken care of, was, in fact, forgotten and at times entirely neglected.

The Keynes Collection of the works of Sir Isaac Newton At King's College, Cambridge

1952 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-50 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
History Of Thought ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Comprehensive Collection ◽  
King's College ◽  
Printed Books ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Main Period ◽  
The University

WHEN John Maynard, 1st Baron Keynes of Tilton, died in 1946 he left, with other benefactions to King’s College, Cambridge, of which he had been a Fellow for thirty-seven years, his great collection of books and manuscripts. He had been a book collector all his life, but the main period of his activity in this field was during the final ten years. During this decade he worked tirelessly at assembling a comprehensive collection of first and early editions of works which illustrated the history of thought—pure philosophy, political theory and a careful selection of books which represented fundamental advances in the realm of natural science. The most important section of the library is the Newton Collection, which comprised at the time of Lord Keynes’s death some 130 manuscripts, many very extensive, and about the same number of printed books. It is the purpose of the present paper to make its contents better known to Newtonian scholars. The sale of the Portsmouth papers in 1936 The event which stimulated Keynes to his greatest effort in bookcollecting was the dispersal at Sotheby’s on 13 and 14 July 1936 of the Newton papers of Viscount Lymington, to whom they had descended from Catherine Conduitt, Viscountess Lymington, Newton’s great-niece. The relentless pressure of death-duties made it necessary to sell this great collection which had remained intact in the family of the Earls of Portsmouth until 1872, when the purely scientific papers were generously given to the University of Cambridge. The vast residue—manuscripts containing perhaps 3000000 words altogether—comprised all Newton’s alchemical, theological and chronological papers, much of his correspondence, all his Mint papers, and much material relating to his personal life, as well as that which Conduitt had gathered for his unwritten biography.

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