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HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES Principia, Newton's Greatest Work, is Newly Translated By William J. Cromie
One of the greatest scientific masterpieces of all time is now available in paperback for $35. A new translation of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia, a book that changed the world’s view of the universe, has just been completed by I.B. Cohen, Thomas Professor of the History of Science Emeritus, and Anne Whitman ’59. The first English translation since 1729 – three years after Newton’s death – is 974 pages long and took 15 years to complete. "When I look at this thing, I say, ‘God, did I do that?’" Cohen says. "The Principia was one of the first books of modern science, in the same league with the work of Copernicus, who presented evidence that the Earth was not the center of the universe. Newton [1642-1726] showed how gravity produces the forces and movements of all that we see in the world, from the motions of the planets to the falling of an apple from a tree." The master of motion never mentioned being hit on the head by an apple, but he did indicate that the idea of gravity occurred to him while watching an apple fall from a tree. The Principia is not an easy work to read. It’s filled with scientific propositions, theorems, and geometric diagrams. To help the reader, Cohen provides a guide that takes up the first 370 pages and includes chapters on the history of the book and how to read it. "At $35, the paperback version is the bargain of the year," Cohen quips. Mistakes and Bad Language The Principia has been translated into many languages including Chinese, Romanian, and Mongolian. The 1729 English translation from the original Latin was modernized, revised, and published by the University of California Press in 1934. However, most scholars agree that it contains troublesome mistakes as well as outdated and unfamiliar expressions. "The 1934 modernization contained ridiculous mistakes that caused scholars who used it to make bad errors," Cohen notes. Also, some statements in it "are no longer immediately comprehensible today. You want it to be a 17th-century book, not a 20th-century book, but you want it to be intelligible." Cohen and Whitman had wrestled with this problem before. In 1972 they produced a Latin edition of Principia. That volume collated the three editions of Newton’s work word-by-word and included Cohen's corrections and those sent to him by other people. "It took about 15 years and it was exhausting," Cohen recalls. "Soon after we finished, the reviewers and our colleagues wanted us to do an English translation. I didn’t want to, as you can imagine. I knew it would be difficult and involve a lot of work. But it’s also difficult to resist pressure from your colleagues." Whitman was a gifted Latinist, and Cohen, in 1947, earned the first Ph.D. in the history of science granted by Harvard. They each produced their own translations and compared the two. Then they went through as many as six revisions of the combination. "It is of utmost importance to get right what the great man said, including all the shades of meaning and ambiguities," Cohen comments. After 10 years of hard work, Whitman died in 1984. "Although the translation was finished, my heart went out of the work," Cohen says. "I put it aside." However, with the encouragement of colleagues and the help of research assistant Julia Budenz, Cohen went back to work, writing the guide and preparing the manuscript for publication. Published by the University of California Press, the translation went on sale September. "I’m really glad that I did it," Cohen says. "I’m the author of about 15 books, some of which have become standard in their fields. But I feel that this is my real contribution. I hope that, decades from now, when I and my other books have been forgotten, this will st ill be useful to scholars and students."Predicting How the World Works The Principia was significant because it combined theories and abstractions about how the world works with observations and experiments. It explained things that everyone could see, such as the ebb and flow of tides, motions of the moon and sun, and the path of a cannonball, in terms of general laws that govern all forces, motions, and materials. These laws can be expressed mathematically; the full title of the book is Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. "That means the laws lend themselves to predictions that can be verified," Cohen points out. Cohen cites comets as an example. Newton reasoned that comets moved around the sun like planets but with elongated orbits that carry them out of sight for years. Only when they circle back close to the sun’s heat do we see them as fiery tongues of ice and gas. Newton discussed these ideas with Edmund Halley, who financed the publication of the Principia. Halley successfully predicted that a comet, last seen in 1680, would return in 1758. When the bright fireball arrived on schedule, Halley had died, but he became a hero and the world gave his name to the comet. Halley honored Newton with a tribute to the Principia, called "Ode on This Splendid Ornament of Our Time and Our Nation, the Mathematico-Physical Treatise by the Eminent Isaac Newton." "No closer to the gods can any mortal rise," Halley said of his friend. Halley was one of the few people who got along with Newton. "He was not a pleasant man," Cohen concedes. "He had no intimate friends, no relationships with women. It is said that he died as he was born – a virgin." Newton’s dispute with the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz holds a prominent place in the history of back-stabbing. Both men independently developed calculus. Newton did it be fore Leibniz, but Leibniz published his work first. Newton was enraged. A number of unflattering articles were published, including a report by the prestigious Royal Society of London that accused Leibniz of plagiarism. Although ascribed to various authors, the articles were actually written by Newton. "Newton was an odd man who lived an odd life," Cohen comments. "He devoted much time to the study of biblical chronology, believing that the Old and New Testaments contained prophecies that science would help him understand. "You can’t deal with a man’s work the way I have with Newton’s and not wonder how his scientific work is related to what kind of a person he was," Cohen says. "I don’t know the answer, but I wish I did."
Copyright 1999 President and Fellows of Harvard College |
