This volume presents Professor Cohen's original interpretation of the revolution that marked the beginnings of modern science and set Newtonian science as the model for the highest level of achievement in other branches of science. It shows that Newton developed a special kind of relation between abstract mathematical constructs and the physical systems that we observe in the world around us by means of experiment and critical observation. The heart of the radical Newtonian style is the construction on the mind of a mathematical system that has some features in common with the physical world; this system was then modified when the deductions and conclusions drawn from it are tested against the physical universe. Using this system Newton was able to make his revolutionary innovations in celestial mechanics and, ultimately, create a new physics of central forces and the law of universal gravitation. Building on his analysis of Newton's methodology, Professor Cohen explores the fine structure of revolutionary change and scientific creativity in general. This is done by developing the concept of scientific change as a series of transformations of existing ideas. It is shown that such transformation is characteristic of many aspects of the sciences and that the concept of scientific change by transformation suggests a new way of examining the very nature of scientific creativity.

From the acclaimed author of Einstein's Heroes, comes the gripping story of two of the most glamorous and influential women of mathematics Issac Newton's Principia changed forever humanity's understanding of its place in the universe - not with the traditional tools of theology or philosophy but with the seductive logic of mathematics. But it was feisty French aristocratic Émilie du Châtelet who played a key role in bring Newton's revolutionary opus to a Continental audience. Together with her lover Voltaire, Émilie - a largely self taught scholar - personified the exciting mix of science, literature, politics and philosophy that defined the Enlightenment. A century later, In Scotland, Mary Somerville taught herself mathematics and rose from genteel poverty to become a world authority on Newtonian physics. Mary's many books, and her charm, made her a legend in her own lifetime. Connected by their passion for mathematics, Mary and Émilie bring to life a defining period in science and politics, revealing the intimate links between the unfolding Newtonian revolution and the origins of intellectual and political liberty. Seduced by Logic is a thrilling foray into the lives of these extraordinary women - and the fascinating ideas that seduced them both. PRAISE FOR ROBYN ARIANRHOD'S EINSTEIN'S HEROES 'Robyn Arianrhod's passion for mathematics is so infectious, you'll scream 'Eureka' when you read her book.' HERALD-SUN 'I read this exhilarating book as I would a novel. Arianrhod combines a passion for her subject with an erudition that is rate for a storyteller' Robyn Williams, ABC'S THE SCIENCE SHOW

With unprecedented current coverage of the profound changes in the nature and practice of science in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, this comprehensive reference work addresses the individuals, ideas, and institutions that defined culture in the age when the modern perception of nature, of the universe, and of our place in it is said to have emerged. Covering the historiography of the period, discussions of the Scientific Revolution's impact on its contemporaneous disciplines, and in-depth analyses of the importance of historical context to major developments in the sciences, The Encyclopedia of the Scientific Revolution is an indispensible resource for students and researchers in the history and philosophy of science.

This book offers a social history of Newtonian natural philosophy from its inception after the 1688 revolution in England until the 1720's. Ms. Jacob shows that the Newtonian world view was adopted by the Anglican church to support its own version of liberal Protestantism and its vision of a social and economic order that would be both Christian and capitalist. It was with Newton's consent, she asserts, that Newtonianism took on an ideological significance in the early Enlightenment. Using an interdisciplinary approach to subjects traditionally reserved for the history of science, church history, and intellectual history, she formulates a convincing new explanation for the triumph of Newtonianism.

The story of Isaac Newton's decades in London - as ambitious cosmopolitan gentleman, President of London's Royal Society, Master of the Mint, and investor in the slave trade. Isaac Newton is celebrated throughout the world as a great scientific genius who conceived the theory of gravity. But in his early fifties, he abandoned his life as a reclusive university scholar to spend three decades in London, a long period of metropolitan activity that is often overlooked. Enmeshed in Enlightenment politics and social affairs, Newton participated in the linked spheres of early science and imperialist capitalism. Instead of the quiet cloisters and dark libraries of Cambridge's all-male world, he now moved in fashionable London society, which was characterized by patronage relationships, sexual intrigues and ruthless ambition. Knighted by Queen Anne, and a close ally of influential Whig politicians, Newton occupied a powerful position as President of London's Royal Society. He also became Master of the Mint, responsible for the nation's money at a time of financial crisis, and himself making and losing small fortunes on the stock market. A major investor in the East India Company, Newton benefited from the global trading networks that relied on selling African captives to wealthy plantation owners in the Americas, and was responsible for monitoring the import of African gold to be melted down for English guineas. Patricia Fara reveals Newton's life as a cosmopolitan gentleman by focussing on a Hogarth painting of an elite Hanoverian drawing room. Gazing down from the mantelpiece, a bust of Newton looms over an aristocratic audience watching their children perform a play about European colonialism and the search for gold. Packed with Newtonian imagery, this conversation piece depicts the privileged, exploitative life in which this eminent Enlightenment figure engaged, an uncomfortable side of Newton's life with which we are much less familiar.

This book challenges the traditional historiography of the Scientific Revolution, probably the single most important unifying concept in the history of science. Usually referring to the period from Copernicus to Newton (roughly 1500 to 1700), the Scientific Revolution is considered to be the central episode in the history of science, the historical moment at which that unique way of looking at the world that we call 'modern science' and its attendant institutions emerged. It has been taken as the terminus a quo of all that followed. Starting with a dialogue between Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs and Richard S. Westfall, whose understanding of the Scientific Revolution differed in important ways, the papers in this volume reconsider canonical figures, their areas of study, and the formation of disciplinary boundaries during this seminal period of European intellectual history.