Sir Isaac Newton's Handwritten Notes About Momentous Discovery of Laws of Motion and Gravity Now Available Online

Daily Mail

An original manuscript containing Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion is being made publicly available online, along with other historic works by the great scientist.

Cambridge University today published more than 4,000 pages of Newton's most important works on a new digital library website.

They include the scientist's own annotated copy of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica – and handwritten notes where some of his most famous theories first came to life.

Groundbreaking: This annotated sketch of work on optics by Sir Isaac Newton is among 4,000 pages of his historic documents which have been put online by Cambridge University

First published in July 1687, Principia not only contains the laws of motion, but also Newton's law of universal gravitation. It is widely regarded as one of the most significant works in the history of science.

Over the next few months the university library will upload thousands more pages, making almost the whole of its Newton collection available for anyone to view and download.

Work on the Cambridge Digital Library began in 2010 with the Newton collection being photographed during last summer.

Up to 200 pages were captured each day, although major conservation work had to be carried out on several manuscripts and notebooks before they could be digitised.

The programme also aims to upload works by other famous scientists from Darwin to Ernest Rutherford.
Prized: Sir Isaac Newton's first edition copy of his Principia, widely regarded as one of the most significant works in the history of science

Prized: Sir Isaac Newton's first edition copy of his Principia, widely regarded as one of the most significant works in the history of science

The college notebook – used by Newton between 1664 and 1665 – contains notes from his reading on mathematics and geometry, showing particularly the influence of John Wallis and René Descartes

Later the Digital Library will incorporate other collections including the archive of the Board of Longitude and the papers of Charles Darwin.

University librarian Anne Jarvis said: 'Over the course of six centuries Cambridge University Library's collections have grown from a few dozen volumes into one of the world's great libraries, with an extraordinary accumulation of books, maps, manuscripts and journals.

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December 20, 2011

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