Newton's Gift

Sir Isaac Newton, creator of the first and perhaps most important scientific theory, is a giant of the scientific era. Despite this, he has remained inaccessible to most modern readers, indisputably great but undeniably remote.

In this witty, engaging, and often moving examination of Newton's life, David Berlinski recovers the man behind the mathematical breakthroughs. The story carries the reader from Newton's unremarkable childhood to his awkward undergraduate days at Cambridge through the astonishing year in which, working alone, he laid the foundation for his system of the world, his Principia Mathematica, and to the subsequent monumental feuds that poisoned his soul and wearied his supporters.

An edifying appreciation of Newton's greatest accomplishment, Newton's Gift is also a touching celebration of a transcendent man.

Contents

Introduction

A Note to the Reader

In the Year that Galileo Died

An Escape from the Plow

The Infinite

The Special Instrument

Newton in His Prime

The Field of Rancor

A Good Question

A Study in Starkness

A Loan from the Future

The Orb of the Moon

The System of the World

The Captive of His Camouflage

Master of the Mint

The Defile

The Quest


Appendix: Descent into Detail

Newton Chronology

Index