Newton’s Mechanics Lectures in Cambridge

The publication of the correspondence between Newton (1642–1727) and Roger Cotes (1682–1716), reviewer and editor of the second edition of the Principia (1713), is also accompanied by other important manuscripts and works, in the sense of a better evaluation and understanding of the immense intellectual construction that was carried out with the publication of the Principia, in 1687. The publication of this correspondence based on manuscripts belonging to the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, also includes the lectures given by Newton in the years 1684, 1685 and 1687, in Cambridge. In this paper, we will explore the manuscripts relating to these courses, trying to reconstruct the content of the mechanics lectures given by Newton in 1684, as we consider that they have a very great importance in the preparation of the Principia itself.