"Dr. Pemberton tells us a that the first thoughts, which gave rise to Newton's Principia, occurred to him when he had retired from Cambridge into Lincolnshire, in 1666, on account of the plague. Voltaire had his information from Mrs. Catharine Barton, Newton's favourite niece, who married Conduitt, a member of the Royal Society, and one of his intimate friends: from having spent a great portion of her life in his society, she was good authority for such an anecdote, and she related that some fruit, falling from a tree, was the accidental cause of this direction to Newton's speculations."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
. Historical Essay on the First Publication of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia. (1838), p. 1-2; Lead paragraph of the first chapter.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Pemberton
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Henry Pemberton
Henry Pemberton (1694 – 9 March 1771) was an English physician and man of letters. He became Gresham Professor of Physic, and edited the third edition of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica.
6 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Henry Pemberton →
Related Quotes
"When I had the honour of his conversation, I endeavoured to learn his thoughts upon mathematical subjects, and someth…"
"The first thoughts, which gave rise to his Principia, he had, when he retired from Cambridge in 1666 on account of th…"
"If so, her motion must be influenced by it; perhaps she is retained in her orbit thereby. However, though the power o…"
"But some years after, a letter, which he received from Dr. Hooke, put him on inquiring what was the real figure, in w…"
"As for Newton himself, all that he had done never seems to have inspired him with any sentiment except that of a deep…"
"I never really had any aspirations to be an actor when I was young. I wanted to play the piano in a bar, to be the ol…"
"If I do decide one day to stop acting, I just hate the idea of people going: 'Oh, did you ever do anything else besid…"
"I don't really know how to act, I kind of wanted to somehow make it real, and one of the ways I've always thought mak…"
"In the days of my early acquaintance with Henley, some fourteen or fifteen years ago, I could never look at him witho…"
"When men live in small communities, ... they cannot avoid personal participation in some public functions. So it was …"