SOURCE: "The Thrice-Revealed Newton," in Editing Texts in the History of Science and Medicine: Papers Given at the Seventeenth Annual Conference on Editorial Problems, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1982, pp. 117-84.

In the following, which was first delivered as a lecture in 1981, Cohen shows how Newton's interests and works have been revealed in three stages: in the material Newton himself chose to publish; in the manuscripts that were discovered and published after his death; and in the remaining manuscripts, correspondence, notebooks, and annotated texts that were sold at auction in 1936 by Newton's family. Furthermore, Cohen discusses the relevance of such findings, arguing that they demonstrate, amonig other things, the importance of Descartes' work in the development of Newton's own thought.

Gi; the First Revelation =~ Sthe First Revelation

I have entitled my presentation "the thrice-revealed Newton" because we have learned about Isaac Newton in a succession of three revelations. First of...