2016年3月31日 星期四

牛頓Isaac Newton、《牛頓傳記五種》等等The colossus of science was not the first king of reason


The architect of modern science—Sir Isaac Newton—died on March 31st 1727. He left behind a voluminous trove of papers, yet the Newton that emerges from these manuscripts is far from a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason

Isaac Newton died on this day in 1727
ECON.ST




Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England on this day in 1642.
"Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things."
--Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was born in a stone farmhouse in 1642, fatherless and unwanted by his mother. When he died in London in 1727 he was so renowned he was given a state funeral—an unheard-of honor for a subject whose achievements were in the realm of the intellect. During the years he was an irascible presence at Trinity College, Cambridge, Newton imagined properties of nature and gave them names—mass, gravity, velocity—things our science now takes for granted. Inspired by Aristotle, spurred on by Galileo’s discoveries and the philosophy of Descartes, Newton grasped the intangible and dared to take its measure, a leap of the mind unparalleled in his generation. James Gleick, the author of Chaos and Genius, and one of the most acclaimed science writers of his generation, brings the reader into Newton’s reclusive life and provides startlingly clear explanations of the concepts that changed forever our perception of bodies, rest, and motion—ideas so basic to the twenty-first century, it can truly be said: We are all Newtonians. READ an excerpt here:http://knopfdoubleday.com/book/60766/isaac-newton/


我們當然也可以將誤差想像成變異,但我們還可以更多想一想。自從牛頓發明了第一到第三定律,我們就比較願意去想像宇宙萬事,不論是自然的,還是人文的,大概都有一個方程式可以表現出來。---- 趙民德



[法]豐特奈爾等《牛頓傳記五種》 趙振江譯 ,北京:商務印書館者,2007
牛頓擁有眾多篇幅不等的傳記,編者們從中選擇五篇。對每一篇傳記,寫了題解,介紹作者的生平和寫作背景。此外,還對傳中的錯誤或難解之處做了註釋,希望對讀者有所幫助。由於這些傳記從不同的方面反映牛頓的事蹟,我們附上牛頓生平大事年表,用編年的形式勾勒他一生的主要經歷。另外還編有人名和地名對照表,以供讀者查考原著。這五篇傳記除豐特奈爾的《伊薩克·牛頓爵士頌詞》的原文為法文外,其他的都是英文。
吳以義《牛頓》台北:東大,2000

通俗介紹 如《改遍歷史的書》介紹
安得瑞德.諾斯著  牛頓傳,許榮富編譯 30 協志工業叢書 社會

牛頓手稿大發現 設計紀念幣挺英女王
 2015年03月25日 11:20



一只由牛頓(Isaac Newton)親自設計、慶祝1702年安妮女王加冕的紀念幣,被牛津大學的博士生霍恩(Joseph Hone)發現上頭的圖案別有玄機,蘊藏著濃濃的政治意涵。
紀念幣正面是安妮女王的肖像,背面則描繪雅典娜擊敗雙頭怪物。在一份50頁的牛頓手稿中,記載了這枚紀念幣的設計理念,雙頭怪物象徵著女王登上王位前所面臨的雙重威脅——路易十四與「老僭王」詹姆士.斯圖亞特(James Stuart)。安妮女王與斯圖亞特是同父異母的姊弟,斯圖亞特長年遭流放在外,他認為自己才是當國王的最佳人選,比起安妮女王,更具有正當性(Legitimacy)。
該紀念幣有金、銀兩種版本,金幣發給出席加冕儀式的貴賓,銀幣則發給觀禮的老百姓。一般認為,這款紀念幣是由當時的宮廷畫家克奈勒(Godfrey Kneller)所設計,但根據手稿,真正的設計者應是當時擔任皇家鑄幣局長的牛頓。
過去幾年,這份手稿因為書鉤生鏽而遭到忽視。霍恩認為,這個發現揭示了牛頓做為科學家、數學家以外的另一面,說到牛頓擔任鑄幣局長,人們通常第一個想到的是他用科學與數學的專業知識,鞏固金本位體系,成功解決了英國的貨幣問題,但這份手稿曝光後,證明牛頓也有豐富的人文涵養,並依此設計紀念幣。霍恩表示:「現代人經常認為自然科學與人文科學是各自獨立的,但在幾百年前,這種分類法不堪一擊。」







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