The Newton Handbook. 

GJERTSEN, Derek [Stephen Hawking].

Item Number: 119543

London: Routledge and Kegan Paul , 1986.

First edition of this work on Newton. Octavo, original cloth. From the library of Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking was a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who, like Newton, held the post as Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. Both Newton and Hawking’s scientific works focused on gravity, with Hawking’s research mainly looking at gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. He was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Hawking may be one of the most recognizable of theoretical physicists in part due to ALS, which gradually paralyzed him over the decades. After the loss of his speech, he was able to communicate through a speech-generating device—initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. He is also well known since he achieved commercial success with several works of popular science in which he discussed his theories and cosmology in general. His book, A Brief History of Time, appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. In this book, Hawking called Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, probably the most important single work ever published in the physical sciences. He refers to Newton at least 70 times in this work and most likely used The Newton Handbook as a resource. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. A wonderful association linking Hawking and Newton, made all the more interesting as Hawking is buried next to Newton in Westminster Abbey.

The aim of Derek Gjertsen's Newton Handbook is to guide the nonspecialist through the vast corpus of Newtoniana, and its sweep is correspondingly broad. The Handbook focuses on Newton's life and writings and what Gjertsen calls the “Newtoniana legend”, but about half of the more than 400 entries are devoted to personalities associated in various ways with Newton: his scientific predecessors, contemporaries, relatives, followers, detractors, an even historians of science.