
The Investigation of Difficult Things
Essays on Newton and the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of D. T. Whiteside
Cambridge University Press
Published on 7. November 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
548 pages
978-0-521-89266-7 (ISBN)
Description
A collection of twenty original essays on the history of science and mathematics. The topics covered embrace the main themes of Whiteside's scholarly work, emphasising Newtonian topics: mathematics and astronomy to Newton; Newton's manuscripts; Newton's Principia; Newton and eighteenth-century mathematics and physics; after Newton: optics and dynamics. The focus of these themes gives the volume considerable coherence. This volume of essays makes available important original work on Newton and the history of the exact sciences. This volume has been published in honour of D. T. Whiteside, famous for his edition of The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton.
Reviews / Votes
'The essays are interesting, original and sound. This is the history of science at its best.' Observatory '... presents methodologically sophisticated papers whose relevance for the general history of science no historian will doubt.' British Journal for the History of ScienceMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
10 Tables, unspecified; 19 Halftones, unspecified; 68 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 191 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
1010 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-89266-7 (9780521892667)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Peter M. Harman | Alan E. Shapiro
The Investigation of Difficult Things
Essays on Newton and the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of D. T. Whiteside
Book
07/1992
Cambridge University Press
€124.00
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Previous edition

Peter M. Harman | Alan E. Shapiro
The Investigation of Difficult Things
Essays on Newton and the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of D. T. Whiteside
Book
07/1992
Cambridge University Press
€124.00
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Content
Part I. Mathematics and Astronomy to Newton: 1. Lunar velocity in the Ptolemaic tradition Bernard R. Goldstein; 2. The Sciametria from Kepler's Hipparchus N. M. Swerdlow; 3. Descartes, Pappus' problem, and the Cartesian parabola Henk Bos; 4. Honore Fabry E. A. Fellman; Part II. Newton's Manuscripts: 5. Sotheby's Keyens and Yahuda P. E. Spargo: 6. De Scriptoribus chemicis Karin Figala et al; 7. Beyond the dating game Alan Shapiro; Part III. Newton's Principia: 8. The critical role of curvature in Newton's developing dynamics Bruce Brackenridge; 9. Newton and the absolutes A. Rupert Hall; 8. Newton's ontology Zev Bechler; 10. Newton's mathematical principles of natural philosophy Alan Gabbey; 11. The review of the first edition of Newton's Principia in the Acta Eruditorum Bernard Cohen; 12. Newton, Cotes David Fowler; Part IV. Newton and Eighteenth-Century Mathematics and Physics: 14. A study of spirals Ronald Cowing; 15. The fragmentation of the European mathematical community Lenore Feigenbaum; 16. Euler on action at a distance and fundamental equations in continuum mechanics Curtis Wilson; 17. St Peter and the rotation of the Earth Domenico Bertolini Meli; Part V. After Newton: 18. Why Stokes never wrote a treatise on optics Jed Buchwald; 19. Maxwell and Saturn's rings Peter M. Harman; 20. Poincare, topological dynamics Jeremy Gray.