The Newton Papers

The Strange and True Odyssey of Isaac Newton's Manuscripts

Sarah Dry

The story of Newton's lost archive and its meandering path through history has never been told
Today, Newton's papers are being transcribed and digitized for viewing online
Fast-paced and narrative-driven, this book brings together both famous and obscure characters in the hunt for the real Newton

The Newton Papers

The Strange and True Odyssey of Isaac Newton's Manuscripts

Sarah Dry

Description

When Isaac Newton died at 85 without a will on March 20, 1727, he left a mass of disorganized papers—upwards of 8 million words—that presented an immediate challenge to his heirs. Most of these writings, on subjects ranging from secret alchemical formulas to impassioned rejections of the Holy Trinity to notes and calculations on his core discoveries in calculus, universal gravitation, and optics, were summarily dismissed by his heirs as "not fit to be printed." Rabidly heretical, alchemically obsessed, and possibly even mad, the Newton presented in these papers threatened to undermine not just his personal reputation but the status of science itself. As a result, the private papers of the world's greatest scientist remained hidden to all but a select few for over two hundred years.

In The Newton Papers, Sarah Dry divulges the story of how this secret archive finally came to light—and the complex and contradictory man it revealed. Covering a broad swath of history, Dry explores who controlled Newton's legacy, who helped uncover him, and what, finally, we know about him today, nearly three hundred years after his death. The Newton Papers presents the eclectic group of collectors, scholars, and scientists who were motivated to track down and collect Newton's private thoughts and obsessions, many of whom led extraordinary lives themselves—from economist John Maynard Keynes to Abraham Yahuda, a friend of Albert Einstein and key figure in the founding of Israel. The 300-year history of the disappearance, dispersal and eventual rediscovery of Newton's papers exposes how Newton has been made, and re-made, at the hands of unique and idiosyncratic individuals, reflecting the changing status of science over the centuries.

A riveting and untold story, The Newton Papers reveals a man altogether stranger and more complicated than the genius of legend.

The Newton Papers

The Strange and True Odyssey of Isaac Newton's Manuscripts

Sarah Dry

Preface
I. 1727-1822
1. The last conflagration
2. Sincere search
3. To gratify men's curiosities
II. 1822-1872
4 Deranged studies
5. Lighting the fire
6. Marginal notation
7. Any scrap
8. Monsters of perfection
III. 1872-1888
9. Proudest boast
10. A hiatus in the history
11. Examine, classify, divide
IV. 1888-1936
12. Human documents
13. Hundreds of feet of mellow calf
14. Four shillings
15. Pioneers of science
16. L9,000
17. A very substantial collection
18. Arab's antiquities
19. Last of the magicians
V. 1936-the present
20. Founding of a discipline
21. We know nothing of Newton here
22. Newtonian industry
23. Newton's paper trail
24. Unity and flux
25. Ultimate value

The Newton Papers

The Strange and True Odyssey of Isaac Newton's Manuscripts

Sarah Dry

Author Information

Sarah Dry

Sarah Dry is a former post-doctoral fellow at the London School of Economics and author of the award-winning biography Curie: Life & Times.

The Newton Papers

The Strange and True Odyssey of Isaac Newton's Manuscripts

Sarah Dry

Reviews and Awards

"This fascinating book traces thehistory of Newton's papers...The author gives some fascinating background...It is a captivating story." - Paradigm Explorer, David Lorimer, Programme DirectorScientific and Medical NetworkEditor, Paradigm Explorer

"Not only is the book a valuable contribution to the history of Newton's work, but it is a most enjoyable read with elements of a good detective story" - J. S. Rowlinson, Science Progress

"Sarah Dry tells a riveting, beautifully written story" - Times Higher Education

"Dry's fine writing and scholarship make this book a useful resource and a good read" - Robyn Arianrhod, Times Higher Education

"compelling" - Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday

"Engaging book" - Economist

"Dry is to be congratulated for furnishing us with a fresh and readable chronicle of the tortuous route that Newtons manuscript took to being made public." - Nature

"By identifying the roles of a host of collectors in securing various parts of the collection, Dry does full justice to a fascinating story; it sheds bright light on the range and development of this most brilliant - and most elusive - of minds. Pure joy." - Graham Farmelo, Times Higher Education

"Drawing on existing scholarship, it is a story well worth sharing with anyone interested in Newton and how we have, over three hundred years, come to know him and shaped his legacy. Sarah Dry has a colorful and intriguing cast of characters on which to draw, who represent a surprisingly varied set of motives for engaging with Newton's life and literary remains." - Rebekah Higgitt, H-Albion

The Newton Papers

The Strange and True Odyssey of Isaac Newton's Manuscripts

Sarah Dry

From Our Blog

True or false? Ten myths about Isaac Newton

Nearly three hundred years since his death, Isaac Newton is as much a myth as a man. The mythical Newton abounds in contradictions; he is a semi-divine genius and a mad alchemist, a somber and solitary thinker and a passionate religious heretic.

Posted on July 6, 2014

Read the blog post