Caput III. Newton and in universum
by Michael Lambert
September 2024
Caput III. Newton and in universum
by Michael Lambert
September 2024
To understand Newton’s focus, look at the preposition in the title: in. The sense is accusatory, in [the matter of] the universe.
From student to professor
Newton returned to studies at Cambridge University in April 1667. The Great Plague of 1665-67 had forced the closure of the university. During this hiatus, Newton developed his theories on calculus, optics, and the law of gravitation. In October 1667, Newton was elected a fellow of Trinity College. He continued his academic work. Isaac Barrow noticed Newton.
Barrow was the first Lucasian Chair of Mathematics. The Chair was the bequest of Henry Lucas, a graduate of St John’s College, Cambridge. Five years into holding the Chair, Barrow resigned and said Newton should hold the professorship. The professorship paid the annual sum of £100 (one hundred pounds sterling), freeing Newton to pursue applied mathematics.
Newton held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics for 33 years.
Deus summas est ens aeternum, infinitum, absolute perfectum…
God the highest is the eternal essence, infinite, absolute perfection…
The quote is from Newton, to the point; his work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Scholium Generale, Book III
Perspective is the attitude towards the regard of something; a point of view. Change your stance, the prospect has another countenance. The parallel exists between 18th Century historical philosophy and our era. Today, Newton is regarded as presenting a static image of our planetary system. His orderly world was sustained by regular, predictable movements. Not so, Elegantissime haecce ² solis, planetarum et cometarum compagnes… The very elegant hook of the sun’s planets and comet’s [are] binding… in the vast emptiness of celestial space. Newton recognized the hand of an …entis intelligentis et potentis… [the] intelligent essence and being able to …preside over the equilibrium of the universe. Newton re-ordered our world, our view. He cited the noun ‘mechanics’ which governs the movements of the solar system’s bodies. Newton’s mathematical rigor, the gravitational laws, about which govern planetary movement around the Sun. Perseverabunt quidem in oribus suis per leges gravitates, sed regularem orbium situm primitus acquirere per leges hasce minime potuerunt… [It] will abide in fact in the orbits themselves per the proposition of gravity, but the first regular undefined orbit permitted the proposition; the least were able…
Principia Mathematica was published in London on 5 July 1687. Newton’s opus was the universe itself.
Projectilia in aere nostro solum aeris resistentiam sentient. Sublato aere, ut fit in vacuo Boyliano ¹, resistentia cessit, siquidem pluma tenuis et aurum solidum aequali cum velocitate in hoc vacuo cadunt. Et par est ratio spatiorum caelestium, quae sunt supra atmosphaeram terrae. Corpora omnia in istis spatiis liberrime moveri debent; et propterea planetae et cometae in orbibus specie et positione datis secundum leges supra expositas perpetuo revolvi. Perseverabunt quidem in oribus suis per leges gravitates, sed regularem orbium situm primitus acquirere per leges hasce minime potuerunt…
Elegantissime hæcce ² solis, planetarum et cometarum compagnes non nisi consilio et dominio entis intelligentis et potentis oriri potuit. Et si stellae fixae sint centra similium systematum, haec omnia simili consilio constructa suberunt. Unius dominio: praesertim cum lux
fixarum sit eiusdem naturae ac lux solis, et systemata omnia lucem in omnia invicem immittant. Et ne fixarum systemata per gravitatem suam in se mutuo cadant, hic eadem immensam ab invicem distantiam posuerit.
Hic omnia regit non ut anima mundi, sed ut universorum dominius. Et propter dominium suum, dominus deus omnipotent dici solet….Deus summus est ens aeternum, infinitum, absolute perfectum; sed ens utcunque perfectum sine dominio non est dominus deus.…Et ex dominatione vera sequitur deum verum esse vivum, intelligentem et potentem, ex religuis perfectionibus summum esse vel summe perfectum. Aeternus est et infinitus, omnipotents et omnisciens, id est durat ab aeterno in aeternum, et adest ab infinito in infinitum…
Isaac Newton. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Scholium Generale, Book III
vacuo Boyliano. The Boyle vacuum. Robert Boyle. January 1627 – 30 December 1691. English. Chemist. Boyle’s Law. The pressure of a gas of constant mass and temperature will be inversely proportional to its volume
hæcce, hæccan. Feminine. Noun. Proto-West German, Old Norse. A hook (a circular, swirling shape)