Opticks
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Physics or history of science students seeking to understand how optics was established
- Readers in the philosophy of science interested in experimental reasoning and the expression of hypotheses
- General readers fascinated by the modern scientific revolution who are willing to read a classic slowly
- Science and engineering teachers looking for material on experimental design and scientific writing
Not a good fit for
- Beginners who want only a quick summary of modern optical conclusions
- Readers unaccustomed to early modern English long sentences and obsolete terminology
- Readers expecting popular science narration and abundant modern illustrations
Reading tips
- Start with the table of contents and the opening of each book, and enter through chapters on optical phenomena rather than plowing through page by page.
- Keep pen and paper to record experimental conditions and conclusions, and add brief notes comparing them with modern optical concepts.
- Save the "Queries" for later; understand the experimental sections first, then appreciate their mode of conjecture.
- Read alongside an introduction to the history of science or an annotated edition to reduce the obstacles posed by old terminology and syntax.
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
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FAQ
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Comments
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About the author
Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician, born in 1642 at Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire and died in London in 1727. He stands as a culminating figure of the seventeenth-century scientific revolution. In the Principia he set out the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation, laying the foundations of classical mechanics; in his optical research he showed that white light is composed of colored rays, and he independently developed the calculus alongside Leibniz. Beyond the natural sciences, he also wrote Opticks, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John, and The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended, works that range across optical experiment, biblical prophecy, and ancient chronology, showing interests that spanned mathematical science, history, and theology. Four of his works are held in this collection; common classification information is currently unavailable, and public information is limited.
