Mathematical Treasure: Newton's 'Principia' in English

In 1729, English mathematician Andrew Motte (1696-1734) translated Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica from Latin to English. Perhaps this effort was at the behest of his brother, Benjamin, who was the printer who published the translation. Volume I of this work contains a rather dramatic frontispiece depicting Isaac Newton seated in heaven among the clouds, receiving instruction from the Muse of Geometry. Below this encounter, the clouds part revealing the universe obeying mathematical laws:

Here is an image of the title page of Volume II of Motte’s translation:

Each of the three original books of the Principia is introduced by a decorative but relevant illustration. Here is the first page of text from the translation of the Principia’s third book, De Mundi Systemate:

For images from the first American edition of Motte’s translation in 1846, see Mathematical Treasure: English Translation of Newton’s Principia Mathematica.

In 1728, a previously unpublished draft copy of De Mundi Systemate had been translated into English and published as The System of the World.  The following images are from the second edition, published in 1740.

The plate shown below illustrates the paths of projectiles issued from the Earth and subject to the force of gravity. Note the trajectories that would in later years indicate the orbits of satellites.

The plate on page 29 illustrates a discussion of potential measurement errors caused by the dilation of light.

The images above are presented courtesy of the University of Oklahoma Library.

Index to Mathematical Treasures