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Newton.Indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 14:45 | Pag omslag Newton.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 14:45 | Pag. 1 e Dutch Republic proved ‘A new light on several to be extremely receptive to major gures involved in the groundbreaking ideas of Newton Isaac Newton (–). the reception of Newton’s Dutch scholars such as Willem work.’ and the Netherlands Jacob ’s Gravesande and Petrus Prof. Bert Theunissen, Newton the Netherlands and van Musschenbroek played a Utrecht University crucial role in the adaption and How Isaac Newton was Fashioned dissemination of Newton’s work, ‘is book provides an in the Dutch Republic not only in the Netherlands important contribution to but also in the rest of Europe. EDITED BY ERIC JORINK In the course of the eighteenth the study of the European AND AD MAAS century, Newton’s ideas (in Enlightenment with new dierent guises and interpre- insights in the circulation tations) became a veritable hype in Dutch society. In Newton of knowledge.’ and the Netherlands Newton’s Prof. Frans van Lunteren, sudden success is analyzed in Leiden University great depth and put into a new perspective. Ad Maas is curator at the Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, the Netherlands. Eric Jorink is researcher at the Huygens Institute for Netherlands History (Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences). / www.lup.nl LUP Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 1 Newton and the Netherlands Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 2 Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 3 Newton and the Netherlands How Isaac Newton was Fashioned in the Dutch Republic Edited by Eric Jorink and Ad Maas Leiden University Press Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 4 e publication of this book is made possible by a grant from Museum Boerhaave. Cover illustration: Britannia between Newton and W.J. ’s Gravesande, Oil painting by G.M. de Boni, (courtesy Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome) Cover design and lay-out: Sander Pinkse Boekproductie, Amsterdam e- (pdf) e- (ePub) / © E. Jorink, A. Maas / Leiden University Press, Amsterdam All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other- wise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every eort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyright- ed illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the pub- lisher. Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 5 Contents Introduction 7 Eric Jorink and Ad Maas ‘The Miracle of Our Time’ 13 How Isaac Newton was fashioned in the Netherlands Eric Jorink and Huib Zuidervaart Servant of Two Masters 67 Fatio de Duillier between Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton Rob Ilie How Newtonian Was Herman Boerhaave? 93 Rina Knoe The Man Who Erased Himself 113 Willem Jacob ’s Gravesande and the Enlightenment Ad Maas ‘The Wisest Man to Whom this Earth Has as Yet Given Birth’ 139 Petrus van Musschenbroek and the limits of Newtonian natural philosophy Kees de Pater Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 6 Low Country Opticks 159 e optical pursuits of Lambert ten Kate and Daniel Fahrenheit in early Dutch ‘Newtonianism’ Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis Defining the Supernatural 185 e Dutch Newtonians, the Bible and the Laws of Nature Rienk Vermij Anti-Newtonianism and Radical Enlightenment 207 Jordy Geerlings Newtonianism at the Dutch Universities during the Enlightenment 227 e teaching of ‘philosophy’ from ’s Gravesande to Van Swinden Henri Krop Authors Index Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 7 Introduction ERIC JORINK AND AD MAAS e Dutch Republic is known as an early adopter of Isaac Newton’s 7 natural philosophy. In fact, Newton’s success on the Continent was INTRODUCT largely eected by Dutch scholars who supported his work at an early stage. is volume, Newton and the Netherlands, is largely devoted to I the perception of Newton’s ideas in the Dutch Republic, as well as the ON fashioning of the man himself, from the publication of his magnum opus Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica in , until the end of the eighteenth century. Despite the importance of the Dutch Republic in the history of Newtonianism, surprisingly little research has been done in this eld. For most historians the sudden popularity of Newtonianism in the Dutch Republic has been a historical fact requiring no explanation. e introduction of Newtonianism to the Netherlands in is usual- ly considered the logical next step towards modern science: from Aris- totelianism, via Cartesianism towards Newtonianism. Seen from this perspective, the appearance of Newtonian physics in the academic curriculum in – was inevitable, as was the increasing popular- ity of the man himself. e eighteenth century in the Dutch Repub- lic was, as in England, the age of Newton. Eulogies of ‘this miracle of our age’ are found not only in scienti c texts, but also in sermons and poetry. In this volume, which is the result of an international conference held in Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, – April , we would like to draw attention to certain conceptual and contextual problems, and to highlight a number of protagonists and underlying patterns rele- Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 8 vant to Newton’s success. Drawing on the recent trend in the history of science for concepts such as the ‘circulation of knowledge’, and the focus on the processes of reception, adaptation and dissemination, we will argue that ‘Newtonianism’ in the Dutch context was not a sta- ble, coherent system, originating in Britain and waiting to be imple- mented on the Continent, but a philosophical construction, adapted to local problems and circumstances. e dissemination of Newton was a many-sided and complex process, in which natural philosophy, religious and cultural factors, propaganda and practical concerns, and personal bene ts, fears and preferences interacted in a fascinating manner. As this book shows, the ‘Newtonianism’ constructed by Dutch natu- ral philosophers appears to be anything but a xed and clearly de ned set of scienti c concepts. Many scholars who have been labeled 8 straightforwardly as ‘Newtonians’, in practice did not embrace New- ton’s natural philosophy completely. Actually, the Dutch ‘Newtonians’ DS N mostly used Newton’s ideas in a selective or even defective manner, and were far from dogmatic in their adherence to his work. More over, what was understood by ‘Newtonianism’ changed in the course of time. Studying Newtonianism, therefore, is like looking at Dutch fog: it is omnipresent, but intangible as well, it often conceals more than D THE NETHERLA N it reveals and at short distances it seems to disappear altogether. It is A N no surprise that many of the authors in this book are intrigued by the ‘foggy’, intangible character of Dutch Newtonianism. NEWTO In the rst chapter Eric Jorink and Huib Zuidervaart present an overview of the colorful rise of Dutch ‘Newtonianism’, and the way the man himself was put on the map, as well as on the market. As they show, Dutch ‘Newtonianism’ was a label, an intellectual construction, to a large extent molded by an already existing tradition of empirical research and by a Protestant natural theology which gave the study of nature a strong religious connotation. Newton’s natural philosophy was adopted to solve pressing religious and philosophical concerns of Dutch culture, particularly as an antidote to the ‘blasphemous’ ideas of Spinoza. In the second half of the eighteenth century an increasing terminological vagueness became apparent. ‘Newtonianism’ became interchangeable with experimental philosophy, ‘physico-theology’ and natural theology, all of which roughly described the same set of ideas, values and practices. As their research suggests, the sudden success of Newton in the Dutch Republic after the publication of the Newton and the Netherlands.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 16-11-12 / 16:47 | Pag. 9 second edition of the Principia in , and the subsequent pirated Amsterdam edition, could be seen as the result of a conscious strategy of philosophers and publishers. A particularly penetrating insight into the selective way in which Newton’s ideas were adopted is provided by Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis in chapter . His study focusses on the Opticks, Newton’s book about his optical experiments and views ( rst published in ). e reception in the United Provinces of this book, which, unlike the Princi pia, has little to say on worldviews and religion, provides a revealing look into the practical use of Newton’s work. e polymath Lambert ten Kate and the instrument maker and lecturer Daniel Fahrenheit, two well- known ‘Newtonians’ who became familiar with the Opticks, largely ignored Newton’s central claims and freely picked out the elements they could use. For Fahrenheit the Opticks proved useful for his pur- suits in telescope making, while Ten Kate even aimed to correct some 9 elements of Newton’s optics with his own experiments, because they INTRODUCT did not t his own theories. Both were largely indierent to Newton’s natural philosophical system. How ‘Newtonian’, then, were these I scholars actually? Dijksterhuis ends his article by calling into question ON the usefulness of the term ‘Newtonianism’, which he considerers ‘too ambiguous, to illuminate historical developments’. ‘To put it brie y’, he concludes, ‘“Newtonianism” is not a fruitful category for doing his- tory of science’.
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