• DOI:10.1007/BF00374704
Corpus ID: 121268606

Isaac Newton and the problem of the earth's shape

@article{Greenberg1996IsaacNA,
  title={Isaac Newton and the problem of the earth's shape},
  author={J. Greenberg},
  journal={Archive for History of Exact Sciences},
  year={1996},
  volume={49},
  pages={371-391}
}

J. Greenberg

Published 1996

Mathematics

Archive for History of Exact Sciences

In this article I discuss the theory of the earth's shape presented by Isaac Newton in Book III of his Principia. I show that the theory struck even the most reputable continental mathematicians of the day as incomprehensible. I examine the many obstacles to understanding the theory which the reader faced — the gaps, the underived equations, the unproven assertions, the dependence upon corollaries to practically incomprehensible theorems in Book I of the Principia and the ambiguities of these… CONTINUE READING

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