Renowned for his theories of gravity and optics, Isaac Newton is now universally celebrated as a scientific genius, perhaps the greatest that ever lived.But he has not always enjoyed such legendary status. A reclusive scholar who wrote more about alchemy and theology than the natural world, he has been heroized by many, but denounced by others. His posthumous reputation has constantly changed and is riddled with contradictions.Newton is a brilliant and eye-opening portrait of our changing attitude to Newton and our intellectual heritage. Focusing on such extraordinary figures as Berkeley, Leibniz and Einstein, it charts Newtons transformation not only into a genius of science but also into a popular hero. Analyzing pictures, prose and poetry, Patricia Fara describes how Newton became a cultural phenomenon whose ideas spread throughout Europe to pervade every aspect of life. Beginning in the eighteenth century, when the word scientist had not even been coined, she reveals how the story of Newton is inseparable from the meteoric growth of science during the last two centuries.
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Book Description:
Newton was not a physicist, and he devoted most of his energy to deciphering the mysteries of alchemy, theology, and ancient chronology. How then did he become world-famous as the architect of modern cosmology? Fara demonstrates that Newton's reputation was carefully cultivated by devoted followers until, in the eighteenth century, it became inseparable from the rising reputation of the new discipline of science itself.
About the Author:
Patricia Fara is Lecturer in the History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University. She is the author of Sympathetic Attractions: Magnetic Practices, Beliefs and Symbolism in Eighteenth-century England (1996).
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- PublisherMacmillan
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0333907353
- ISBN 13 9780333907351
- BindingHardcover
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