Overview

Newton's Opticks is the most influential optical and experimental work of the eighteenth century. This final volume of The Optical Papers of Isaac Newton contains manuscripts that document the evolution of the Opticks through its three principal published editions. It shows how Newton constructed the book that for over a century was the leading treatise on optics, a fecund source of natural philosophical speculations, and which is now considered a classic of science. The volume opens with the manuscript of the first edition (1704) and the first draft of the Opticks in Latin, which he soon abandoned for English. This is followed by the manuscripts of the queries that Newton added to the Latin translation in 1706 and the second English edition in 1717. Other, shorter manuscripts are included, as are copious notes and commentary, making this a valuable resource for historians and philosophers of science, and historians of philosophy.

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'I warmly congratulate Professor Shapiro on his splendid achievement, over many years, in finally laying before us the contents of Newton's Optical Papers.' Allan Chapman, The Observatory '… this excellent piece of scholarship concentrates solely on the texts of Newton himself … Highly recommended.' R. L. Pour, CHOICE 'The publication of the second volume of the Optical papers should be welcomed by all historians of early-modern natural philosophy … Volume 1 offers many insights into the purpose of Newton's lectures, … As Shapiro perceptively notes, the deposited lectures (CUL MS Dd.9.67) were 'polished revisions intended for the public' (I, 17). … Shapiro's magnificent edition will remain a precious tool for anyone working on Newton's thought and times … The commentary of the print edition makes clear the chronology, structure, and variants present in CUL MS Add 3970 … Shapiro offers us a historical contextualization of these texts, which remain difficult to interpret.' Niccolò Guicciardini, Metascience

'I warmly congratulate Professor Shapiro on his splendid achievement, over many years, in finally laying before us the contents of Newton's Optical Papers.' Allan Chapman, The Observatory

'I warmly congratulate Professor Shapiro on his splendid achievement, over many years, in finally laying before us the contents of Newton's Optical Papers.' Allan Chapman, The Observatory '… this excellent piece of scholarship concentrates solely on the texts of Newton himself … Highly recommended.' R. L. Pour, CHOICE

Author Information

Alan E. Shapiro has written widely on the history of optics, and on Isaac Newton. He is the author of Fits, Passions, and Paroxysms: Physics, Method, and Chemistry and Newton's Theories of Colored Bodies and Fits of Easy Reflection (Cambridge, 1993). He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and served as President of the International Academy of the History of Science.

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