Description

pp. 347, “Renowned for his theories of gravity and optics, Isaac Newton is now universally celebrated as a scientific genius, perhaps the greatest that ever lived.But he has not always enjoyed such legendary status. A reclusive scholar who wrote more about alchemy and theology than the natural world, he has been heroized by many, but denounced by others. His posthumous reputation has constantly changed and is riddled with contradictions.Newton is a brilliant and eye-opening portrait of our changing attitude to Newton and our intellectual heritage. Focusing on such extraordinary figures as Berkeley, Leibniz and Einstein, it charts Newtons transformation not only into a genius of science but also into a popular hero. Analyzing pictures, prose and poetry, Patricia Fara describes how Newton became a cultural phenomenon whose ideas spread throughout Europe to pervade every aspect of life. Beginning in the eighteenth century, when the word scientist had not even been coined, she reveals how the story of Newton is inseparable from the meteoric growth of science during the last two centuries.”