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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Much has been written on the Principia and the ramifications of Newton's dynamics, but until now the details of Newton's solution to the Kepler problem have been available only to scholars patient and skilled enough to ferret them out. The Key to Newton's Dynamics explains in clear, accesible terms how the analytical basis for the concept of a universal gravitational force grew out of Newton's answer to the question of what kind of force would keep the planets on their elliptical paths around the sun. Bruce Brackenridge tracks the Newton's work on the Kepler problem-showing the physicist's debt to the studies of Descartes and Galileo-from its early stages at Cambridge before 1669, through the revival of his interest ten years later, to its fruition in 1687 in the first edition of the Principia and its revision and extension in the later editions. Mary Ann Rossi has provided for this volume the first full English translation of the three crucial sections of Book One of the first edition, affording a unique opportunity for comparison to the readily available translations of the third edition.

(Extracted from the back cover).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contents.

-Preface.

-Acknowledgments.

-Part I. The Background to Newton's Solution.

-1- A Simplified Solution: The Area Law, the Linear Dynamics Ratio, and the Law of Gravitation.
-2- An Overview of Newton's Dynamics: The Problem of the Planets and the Principia.
-3- Newton's Early Dynamics: On Uniform Circular Motion.

-Part II. A Guided Study to Newton's Solution.

-4- The Paradigm Constructed: On Motion, Theorems 1, 2 and 3.
-5- The Paradigm Applied: On Motion, Problems 1, 2 and 3.
-6- The Paradigm Extended: On Motion, Theorem 4 and Problem 4.

-Part III. The Revisions and Extensions to Newton's Solution.

-7- The Principia and Its Relationship to On Motion: A Reference Guide for the Reader.
-8- Newton's Unpublished Proposed Revisions: Two New Methods Revealed.
-9- Newton's Published Recast Revisions: Two New Methods Concealed.
-10- Newton's Dynamics in Modern Mathematical Dress: The Orbital Equation and the Dynamics Ratios.

-Appendix: An English Translation of Sections 1, 2, and 3 of Book One from the First (1687) Edition of Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.

-Notes.

-References.

-Index to the Guided Study and the Translation.

-General Index.

OUR REVIEW

The study of the history of physics and astronomy shows us the way of thinking, the ways of reasoning on the part of the great scientific geniuses of the past. Thanks to them we have evolved till our present day. One of the most clear instances of intellectual brilliance is no doubt that of Isaac Newton. His work is one of the most important contributions to Science, and many of the advances of modern science have been built upon Newton's postulates. Yet it also is one of the least available ones owing to its complexity. In this book, Bruce Brackenridge intends to approach some aspects in Newton's work and make them available for the reader, especially everything having to do with the famous problem set by Kepler and the answer the Bristish researcher gave to it, characterized in his Principia, an essential work in the history of science.

Perhaps one of the most important contributions that this book offers is the publication of part of the first edition of the Principia, originally published in Latin and whose diffussion was diminished after subsequent new editions appearing in the market. The explanations that Brackenridge gives us step by step are very adequate indeed: any person with a minimum knowledge will be able to understand Newton's proposals and enjoy his most elaborate, essential theorems.