The Principia, Isaac Newton

The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy by Isaac Newton (translated by I. Bernard Cohen, Anne Whitman), University of California Press, 1687(1999). ISBN:0520088174

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"Cohen and Whitman's translation deserves to become the new standard. . . . " - Physics Today.

In his 1687 work Philosphiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, or simply Principia, Isaac Newton laid out in mathematical terms the principles of time, force, and motion that have guided the development of modern physics. This text is a translation, based on the third (1726) edition, the last one corrected by Newton. It is the first translation from the Latin in 270 years.

It set forth the fundamental three laws of motion and the law of universal gravity, the physical principles that account for the Copernican system of the world as emended by Kepler, thus effectively ending controversy concerning the Copernican planetary system.

The first edition of this great work was a simple, 6 by 8 inches, leather bound, volume of 512 pages. Written in Latin, and consisting mainly of complex mathematical arguments and equations, it is not an easy read. Cohen and Whitman have made the modern reader's task much easier by producing a good English translation and useful notes.

Also recommended:

• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
• The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
• The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins
• Search for The Principia by Isaac Newton in Encyclopedia