Isaac Newton
By: James Gleick.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
Subjects: Newton, Isaac, -- Sir, -- 1642-1727; Physicists -- Great Britain -- Biography
Genres: Biography.
Description: "In this biography, James Gleick moves between a comprehensive historical portrait and a dramatic focus on Newton's significant letters and unpublished notebooks to illuminate the real importance of his work in physics, in optics, and in calculus. He makes us see the old intuitive, alchemical universe out of which Newton's mathematics first arose and shows us how Newton's ideas have altered all forms of understanding from history to philosophy. And he gives us an account of the conflicting impulses that pulled at this man's heart: his quiet longings, his rage, his secrecy, the extraordinary subtleties of personality that were mirrored in the invisible forces he first identified as the building blocks of science. More than biography, more than history, more than science, Isaac Newton tells us how, through the mind of one man, we have come to know our place in the cosmos."--BOOK JACKET
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-258) and index.
Table of contents: title: 1.; title: What imployment is he fit for -- -- 2.; title: Some philosophical questions -- -- 3.; title: To resolve problems by motion -- -- 4.; title: Two great orbs -- -- 5.; title: Bodys & senses -- -- 6.; title: The oddest if not the most considerable detection -- -- 7.; title: Reluctancy and reaction - -- 8.; title: In the midst of a whirlwind -- -- 9.; title: All things are corruptible -- -- 10.; title: Heresy, blasphemy, idolatry -- -- 11.; title: First principles -- -- 12.; title: Every body perseveres -- -- 13.; title: Is he like other men -- -- 14.; title: No man is a witness in his own cause -- -- 15.; title: The marble index of a mind.