Description
Book SynopsisReading Newton in Early Modern Europe investigates how Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia was read, interpreted and remodelled for a variety of readerships in eighteenth-century Europe. The editors, Mordechai Feingold and Elizabethanne Boran, have brought together papers which explore how, when, where and why the Principia was appropriated by readers in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, England and Ireland. Particular focus is laid on the methods of transmission of Newtonian ideas via university textbooks and popular works written for educated laymen and women. At the same time, challenges to the Newtonian consensus are explored by writers such as Marius Stan and Catherine Abou-Nemeh who examine Cartesian and Leibnizian responses to the Principia. Eighteenth-century attempts to remodel Newton as a heretic are explored by Feingold, while William R. Newman draws attention to vital new sources highlighting the importance of alchemy to Newton. Contributors are: Catherine Abou-Nemeh, Claudia Addabbo, Elizabethanne Boran, Steffen Ducheyne, Moredechai Feingold, Sarah Hutton, Juan Navarro-Loidi, William R. Newman, Luc Peterschmitt, Anna Marie Roos, Marius Stan, and Gerhard Wiesenfeldt.
Trade Review“This is a well-balanced collection that will be of great value to Newtonian scholars. Summing up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and faculty.” M. Dickinson, Maine Maritime Academy. In: Choice Connect, Vol. 55, No. 5 (January 2018). “This is a collection that includes a number of important papers, and it should not be overlooked by anyone with a serious interest in Newton or in eighteenth-century Newtonianism.” John Henry, University of Edinburgh (emeritus). In: Isis, Vol. 110, No. 1 (March 2019), pp. 168–169. “The volume Reading Newton in Early Modern Europe is an exemplary treatment of how revolutionary science becomes de rigeur, through its introduction, opposition to, and eventual overtaking of the preexisting paradig, in this brilliant composite study of how Newton’s mathematical and physical theories changed the nature of science, as taught and understood in early modern Europe.” Cheryl Kayahara-Bass, Oshawa, ON. In: Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Summer 2019), pp. 557–560.
Table of ContentsList of Contributors 1 Introduction Elizabethanne Boran Part 1: Introducing Newton 2 The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in Naples Claudia Addabbo 3 Newton and the Spanish Artillerymen Juan Navarro Loidi 4 The Practical Tradition of Dutch Newtonianism Gerhard Wiesenfeldt 5 Science for Ladies? Elizabeth Carter’s Translation of Algarotti and “popular” Newtonianism in the Eighteenth Century Sarah Hutton 6 Irish Newtonian Physicians and Their Arguments: The Case of Bryan Robinson A.M. Roos, Ph.D., F.L.S., F.S.A. Part 2: Challenging Newton 7 Controversies over Comets: Isaac Newton, Nicolas Hartsoeker, and Early Modern World-making Catherine Abou-Nemeh 8 ’s Gravesande’s and Van Musschenbroek’s Appropriation of Newton’s Methodological Ideas Steffen Ducheyne 9 Newton’s Concepts of Force among the Leibnizians Marius Stan 10 How Did Berkeley Read Newton? Luc Peterschmitt Part 3: Remodelling Newton 11 Newton’s Reputation as an Alchemist and the Tradition of Chymiatria William R. Newman 12 Isaac Newton, Heretic? Some Eighteenth-Century Perceptions Mordechai Feingold Index
