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Opticks

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton's Opticks (first edition 1704; this is the fourth, of 1730) is, with the Principia, one of the two pillars of his scientific achievement and a masterpiece of experimental science. Written in plain English rather than the geometry of the Principia, it reports his experiments with prisms and lenses to establish that white light is a mixture of rays of different colours and refrangibility, and develops his theories of colour, reflection, refraction, and the 'fits' of light. The book closes with the famous Queries, speculative questions that shaped physics and natural philosophy for a century.

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Contents

  1. Advertisements
  2. Book I, Part I
    1. Definition I
    2. Definition II
    3. Definition III
    4. Definition IV
    5. Definition V
    6. Definition VI
    7. Definition VII
    8. Definition VIII
    9. Axiom I
    10. Axiom II
    11. Axiom III
    12. Axiom IV
    13. Axiom V
    14. Axiom VI
    15. Axiom VII
    16. Axiom VIII
    17. Proposition I — Theor. I
    18. Proposition II — Theor. II
    19. Proposition III — Theor. III
    20. Proposition IV — Prob. I
    21. Proposition V — Theor. IV
    22. Proposition VI — Theor. V
    23. Proposition VII — Theor. VI
    24. Proposition VIII — Prob. II
  3. Book I, Part II
    1. Proposition I — Theor. I
    2. Proposition II — Theor. II
    3. Definition
    4. Proposition III — Prob. I
    5. Proposition IV — Theor. III
    6. Proposition V — Theor. IV
    7. Proposition VI — Prob. II
    8. Proposition VII — Theor. V
    9. Proposition VIII — Prob. III
    10. Proposition IX — Prob. IV
    11. Proposition X — Prob. V
    12. Proposition XI — Prob. VI
  4. Book II, Part I
    1. Observations concerning the Reflexions, Refractions, and Colours of thin transparent Bodies
  5. Book II, Part II
    1. Remarks upon the foregoing Observations
    2. The thickness of colour'd Plates and Particles of
  6. Book II, Part III
    1. Of the permanent Colours of natural Bodies, and the Analogy between them and the Colours of thin transparent Plates
    2. Proposition I
    3. Proposition II
    4. Proposition III
    5. Proposition IV
    6. Proposition V
    7. Proposition VI
    8. Proposition VII
    9. Proposition VIII
    10. Proposition IX
    11. Proposition X
    12. Proposition XI
    13. Proposition XII
    14. Definition
    15. Proposition XIII
    16. Proposition XIV
    17. Proposition XV
    18. Proposition XVI
    19. Proposition XVII
    20. Proposition XVIII
    21. Proposition XIX
    22. Proposition XX
  7. Book II, Part IV
  8. Book III, Part I
    1. Query 1
    2. Query 2
    3. Query 3
    4. Query 4
    5. Query 5
    6. Query 6
    7. Query 7
    8. Query 8
    9. Query 9
    10. Query 10
    11. Query 11
    12. Query 12
    13. Query 13
    14. Query 14
    15. Query 15
    16. Query 16
    17. Query 17
    18. Query 18
    19. Query 19
    20. Query 20
    21. Query 21
    22. Query 22
    23. Query 23
    24. Query 24
    25. Query 25
    26. Query 26
    27. Query 27
    28. Query 28
    29. Query 29
    30. Query 30
    31. Query 31