Newton and the Culture of Newtonianism (Control of Nature) Book

Modern science emerged from seventeenth-century English society alongside another, equally extraordinary transformation - representative government. At the same time as the new political structure emerged from the turmoil, science coalesced into an organized body of knowledge, complete with an experimental method and an institutional base within the universities and the scientific societies. The figure of Isaac Newton and his science towered over the process, providing an overarching framework within which all other sciences of the age in turn developed. This book first introduces Newton and then examines what happened to his science as it was interpreted by his major followers. It also looks at the scientific culture that he helped to create and the impact that his ideas had on the rapidly developing technology that led to the Industrial Revolution, as well as to its effects on religion and Freemasonry. The authors draw widely on recent work that has produced a rich new understanding of the sources of Newton's natural philosophy, or science as it is known today. The resulting synthesis provides an account that is as valuable for students as it is of interest to the general reader.Read More