Overview

Isaac Newton was accorded a semi-divine status in the 18th and 19th centuries, whereby his image linked together religion and science. The real human being behind the demi-god image has tended to be lost. He was a person who took credit from others, and crushed the reputations of those to whom he owed most. This most brilliant of mathematicians could alas be devious, deceptive and duplicitous. This work doesn't go looking at unpublished alchemical musings as is nowadays fashionable, rather it sticks to the historical record. At the time when the new science was born, we scrutinise the ways in which he failed to discover the law of gravity or invent calculus. What exactly did Leibniz mean by describing him as 'a mind neither fair nor honest'? Why did Robert Hooke describe him as 'the veriest knave in all the house' and why was the astronomer Flamsteed calling him SIN (Sir Isaac Newton)? We are here concerned to give him credit for what he did discover, which may not be quite what you had been told. This book redefines the genius of Isaac Newton, but without the heavily mythologised baggage of a bygone era. He believed in one God, one law and one bank. AUTHOR: Following completion of his natural science degree at Cambridge specialising in the history and Philosophy of Science, Nick Kollerstrom worked for the Medical Research Council's Air Pollution Unit. This resulted in his first book Lead on the Brain, an investigation into lead pollution from petrol, and this was promoted by the Green Party to raise awareness. While living in Guildford, he worked as a secondary school maths teacher for five years. He worked in the local Green Party and it was very successful; in 1989 they secured 22% of the vote for West Surrey Green Party in the Euro-election. His PhD was on Newton's lunar theory, after which he was a Research Fellow at UCL. He was invited to compose the biography of Newton for the prestigious Biographical Encyclopaedia of Astronomers of 2007. His various history of astronomy articles are online at dioi.org/kn/ and he's a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has authored many books exploring a wide variety of subjects, including The Unnecessary War (1988), Newton's Forgotten Lunar Theory (2000) Crop Circles, the Hidden Form (2002), Terror on the Tube (2009), and Venus, the Path of Beauty (2017). 32 b/w illustrations

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9781399078009

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Following completion of his natural science degree at Cambridge specialising in the history and Philosophy of Science, Nick Kollerstrom worked for the Medical Research Council’s Air Pollution Unit. This resulted in his first book Lead on the Brain, an investigation into lead pollution from petrol, and this was promoted by the Green Party to raise awareness. While living in Guildford, he worked as a secondary school maths teacher for five years. He worked in the local Green Party and it was very successful; in 1989 they secured 22% of the vote for West Surrey Green Party in the Euro-election. His PhD was on Newton's lunar theory, after which he was a Research Fellow at UCL. He was invited to compose the biography of Newton for the prestigious Biographical Encyclopaedia of Astronomers of 2007. His various history of astronomy articles are online at dioi.org/kn/ and he's a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has authored many books exploring a wide variety of subjects, including The Unnecessary War (1988), Newton’s Forgotten Lunar Theory (2000) Crop Circles, the Hidden Form (2002), Terror on the Tube (2009), and Venus, the Path of Beauty (2017).

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