4,000 pages of Isaac Newton’s personal notebooks are now available to view online

When Isaac Newton was first developing the mathematical theories that would later form the foundations of Calculus, many of his drawings, equations and calculations found their way into an unassuming notebook (known at the time as a "waste book").

That was over 400 years ago. But now, Newton's waste book is just one work in an extensive selection of scientific and mathematical manuscripts by the brilliant thinker that has just been made available online, free of charge, for all to see.

"Anyone, wherever they are, can see at the click of a mouse how Newton worked and how he went about developing his theories and experiments," said Grant Young, the library's digitization manager, in a press release. "Before today, anyone who wanted to see these things had to come to Cambridge. Now we're bringing Cambridge University Library to the world."

There are roughly 4,000 pages of material available right now, including Newton's annotated copy of Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica, as well as pages from his college notes.

io9.com...

Isaac Newton's notebooks can be found here.
Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica (wikipedia) can be found here.

It's a pity that there isn't a PDF version available to download. Hopefully one will become available in the near future because reading it online (at the Cambridge website) is a major pain in the ass.

reply to post by fallethix


Having read much of his published works, I should imagine that this will be a fascinating resource into his thought processes. He had incredibly varied interests, and his perspective on some of the religious texts is extraordinarily insightful. I wonder what he considered in private that he would have felt unable to publish? I look forward to having a good look at this.

Thank you very much for highlighting it for us all.

Thanks for the Links. Very interesting and helpful indeed.

Thanks for listing this. You're right...it looks like an arduous task getting through those on that website.

Newton, I have read in various sources, spend a great deal of time in seclusion secretly studying metaphysics and attempting to decipher a biblical code, of which he was certain existed. It is said he did this privately, lest he be labeled a heretic in those times.

Wonder where all of those notes are?

My man, Sir Isaac Newton.

Originally posted by capod2t
Thanks for listing this. You're right...it looks like an arduous task getting through those on that website.

Newton, I have read in various sources, spend a great deal of time in seclusion secretly studying metaphysics and attempting to decipher a biblical code, of which he was certain existed. It is said he did this privately, lest he be labeled a heretic in those times.

Wonder where all of those notes are?

Yes, those are the ones I would be most interested in too. Not sure what I expect to find though, but his treatise on Revelations is intriguing in certain respects. He seems frustrated expressively would be the best I could describe it. Makes one wonder...something he wasn't allowed to say, or something he wasn't capable of saying?