Laws of motion’s original manuscript now available online

Library include scientist's own annotated copy of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

An original manuscript containing Isaac Newton’s laws of motion is being made available online by Cambridge University,along with other historic works by him,one of the most influential scientist who ever lived.

The University today published more than 4,000 pages of Newton’s most important works on a new digital library website.

They include the scientist’s own annotated copy of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

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First published in July 1687,’Principia’ not only contains the laws of motion,but also Newton’s law of universal gravitation. It is widely regarded as one of the most significant works in the history of science.

Launching the website with more than 4,000 pages of its most important Newton material,the University Library will upload thousands of further pages over the next few months until almost all of its Newton collection is available to view and download anywhere in the world.

Work on the Cambridge Digital Library began in 2010 with the Newton collection being photographed during last summer.

Up to 200 pages were captured each day,although major conservation work had to be carried out on several manuscripts and notebooks before they could be digitised.

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The programme also aims to upload works by other famous scientists from Darwin to Ernest Rutherford.

Later the Digital Library will incorporate other collections including the archive of the Board of Longitude and the papers of Charles Darwin.