Title page from Principia mathematica (Latin ed.)

Principia mathematica (Latin ed.)

Newton’s most famous work Principia (1687) explains the laws governing the motion of physical objects. Principia rests on the new branch of mathematics that Newton invented simultaneously with Leibniz (1646-1716), calculus, a tool that surpassed the work done by the ancient Greeks for the first time in almost two thousand years. Newton provided explanations for fundamental natural phenomena: gravitation, the motion of the planets, and the mechanics of physics on earth.