The Newton Silk Scarf

The Newton Scarf features diagrams and text taken from Newton’s personal copy of the first edition of the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica that is held in the Library at Trinity College, Cambridge. Several of the images show Newton’s annotations for the second edition.

At the time of his death, Newton was the most famous scientist in Britain and possibly Europe. His accomplishments were staggering and far reaching and still form the bedrock of many areas of mathematics. Even today, most of us are introduced to the notion of gravity and the concept of scientific laws with the story of Newton sitting in an orchard watching an apple fall from a tree.