Apple not essential as Newton’s works online

Cambridge University today publishes more than 4,000 pages of Newton’s most important works on a new digital library website, http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk

They include the scientist’s own annotated copy of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

First published in July 1687, Principia contains not only the laws of motion but also Newton’s law of universal gravitation. It is widely regarded as one of the most significant works in the history of science.

Over the next few months the university library will upload thousands more pages, making almost the whole of its Newton collection available for anyone to view and download following a £1.5m gift from the Polonsky Foundation, which supports education and the arts.

Grant Young, digitisation manager at the Cambridge University Library, said: “Newton’s copy of his Principia shows how methodically he worked through his text; marking alterations, crossing out and annotating his work in preparation for the second edition.”