Isaac Newton was famously inspired by seeing an apple fall from a tree in his garden in Grantham, England, which sparked his elaborations of the classical laws of gravity, motion and optics. Image: Everett Historical/Shutterstock via AFP Relaxnews
A first-edition copy of Isaac Newton鈥檚 groundbreaking book laying out his three laws of motion, which became the foundation for modern physics, has been found at a library on the French island of Corsica.
Vannina Schirinsky-Schikhmatoff, director of conservation at the Fesch public heritage library in Ajaccio, said she discovered the copy of the 17th-century work while studying an index from the library鈥檚 founder Lucien Bonaparte, one of Napoleon鈥檚 brothers.
鈥淚 found the Holy Grail in the main room, hidden in the upper shelves,鈥� she told AFP this week.
鈥淭he cover has a little damage but inside it鈥檚 in excellent condition鈥攖his is the cornerstone of modern mathematics,鈥� she said.
The Latin text, 鈥淧hilosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica鈥� (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) was first published by Newton in 1687.
The renowned physicist was famously inspired by seeing an apple fall from a tree in his garden in Grantham, England, which sparked his elaborations of the classical laws of gravity, motion and optics.
English translations were published later, but the original editions remain prized by collectors.
鈥淎 Latin edition sold for $3.7 million at an auction held by Christie鈥檚 a few years ago, and that鈥檚 the one at the Ajaccio library,鈥� Schirinsky-Schikhmatoff said, referring to a December 2016 sale in New York to an undisclosed buyer.
It is not the first rare find at the Fesch library since an in-depth review of its holdings began a few years ago.
In 2018, Schirinsky-Schikhmatoff unveiled a 鈥淭hesaurum Hyeroglyphicorum鈥� study of Egyptian hieroglyphics dating from 1610鈥攕ome 200 years before France鈥檚 Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered parts of the Rosetta Stone. IB /ra
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