Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (English: The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy)[1] often referred to as simply the Principia (/prɪnˈsɪpiə, prɪnˈkɪpiə/), is a book by Isaac Newton that expounds Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation. The Principia is written in Latin and comprises three volumes, and was authorized, imprimatur, by Samuel Pepys, then-President of the Royal Society on 5 July 1686 and first published in 1687.[2][3]
For Whitehead and Russell's work on mathematical logic, see Principia Mathematica.Author
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
1687
England
1728
QA803 .A53
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica at Wikisource
The Principia is considered one of the most important works in the history of science.[4] The French mathematical physicist Alexis Clairaut assessed it in 1747: "The famous book of Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy marked the epoch of a great revolution in physics. The method followed by its illustrious author Sir Newton ... spread the light of mathematics on a science which up to then had remained in the darkness of conjectures and hypotheses."[5] Joseph-Louis Lagrange described it as "the greatest production of a human mind".[6]
A more recent assessment has been that while acceptance of Newton's laws was not immediate, by the end of the century after publication in 1687, "no one could deny that [out of the Principia] a science had emerged that, at least in certain respects, so far exceeded anything that had ever gone before that it stood alone as the ultimate exemplar of science generally".[7]
The Principia forms a mathematical foundation for the theory of classical mechanics. Among other achievements, it explains Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion, which Kepler had first obtained empirically. In formulating his physical laws, Newton developed and used mathematical methods now included in the field of calculus, expressing them in the form of geometric propositions about "vanishingly small" shapes.[8] In a revised conclusion to the Principia (), Newton emphasized the empirical nature of the work with the expression Hypotheses non fingo ("I frame/feign no hypotheses").[9]
After annotating and correcting his personal copy of the first edition,[10] Newton published two further editions, during 1713[11] with errors of the 1687 corrected, and an improved version[12] of 1726.[11]
It has been estimated that as many as 750 copies[89] of the first edition were printed by the Royal Society, and "it is quite remarkable that so many copies of this small first edition are still in existence ... but it may be because the original Latin text was more revered than read".[90] A survey published in 1953 located 189 surviving copies[91] with nearly 200 further copies located by the most recent survey published in 2020, suggesting that the initial print run was larger than previously thought.[92] However, more recent book historical and bibliographical research has examined those prior claims, and concludes that Macomber's earlier estimation of 500 copies is likely correct.[93]
In 2016, a first edition sold for $3.7 million.[107]
The second edition (1713) were printed in 750 copies, and the third edition (1726) were printed in 1,250 copies.
A facsimile edition (based on the 3rd edition of 1726 but with variant readings from earlier editions and important annotations) was published in 1972 by Alexandre Koyré and I. Bernard Cohen.[11]