All Was Light: An Introduction to Newton's Opticks - Hardcover

Hall, A. Rupert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198539851 ISBN 13: 9780198539858

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1993

Synopsis

Opticks, Newton's most popular book, is a complex work of genius and the fruit of forty years of thought and investigation. Newton devoted various periods of experimentation to this final expression of his life's work and drew on the results of successive interactions with other scientists and thinkers. This introduction to his book disentangles the different layers of Newton's thought processes in terms of his contemporary influences, and details the development of the final text. It explains problems that arose from Newton's changing ideas during the course of the book's long preparation, touching on such controversial issues of the time as the concepts of atomism, force, and the aether. The author also looks in detail at the way Newton has been interpreted both at home and abroad. This readable, non-mathematical book serves as an excellent introduction to Newton and the great achievement of Opticks and will fascinate students and general readers interested in natural philosophy and the history of science.

About this title

About the Author

Rupert Hall, Emeritus Professor of History of Science and Technology, Imperial College, London.

Review

"Captures both the intellectual daring and the experimental genius of Newton. Hall offers a detailed reconstruction of the development of Newton's investigation of light." --Nature

"Next to the Opticks itself, and perhaps along with it, this is the book that one needs in order to understand a major part of Newton's thought and work." --American Journal of Physics

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198539851
• ISBN 13: 9780198539858
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 260