Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica Published (1687)

Newton's Principia represents one of the greatest milestones in the history of science. The three-volume work includes Newton's three famous laws of motion, treatises on dynamics and fluid motion, and an explanation of Kepler's laws of planetary motion. It dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for three centuries after its publication. Although Newton used calculus to derive his results, he explained them using older geometric methods. Why might he have done this? More...