Genevan encounters with Newton. Gabriel Cramer, Jean-Louis Calandrini and the annotated edition of the Principia.

Abstract

The named editors of the annotated edition of Newton's Principia, François Jacquier and Thomas Le Seur, saw their painstaking enterprise as a decisive means to making the great polymath's work more accessible. As this article makes clear, the Genevan edition was above all a collaborative enterprise, resting crucially on the contributions of the two Genevan mathematicians Jean-Louis Calandrini and Gabriel Cramer, both of whose expertise complemented and, in some respects, exceeded that of the two Minim priests based in Rome, while also being attuned to contemporary scientific discussion involving the foremost scientific figures of the time, such as Euler, Clairaut, d'Alembert and the Bernoulli. Focusing in particular on the debate over Newton's theory of the Moon, the article reveals the importance of Calandrini's and Cramer's scientific networks for understanding the production and reception of the Geneva edition.This article is part of the theme issue 'Newton, Principia, Newton Geneva Edition (17th-19th) and modern Newtonian mechanics: heritage, past & present'.