Abstract
We consider one aspect of Isaac Newton’s thinking as regards science. He always considered the inverse aspects of any problem. We illustrate his approach in many areas of knowledge. In philosophy of science with the roles of analysis and synthesis. In mechanics with the law gravitation. In optics with the decomposition of while light and its composition from the spectral colours. In mathematics with the method of fluxions and its opposite. We believe this way of dealing with physics and mathematics is one of the sources of his immense creativity.
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References
Newton, I. (1934). Mathematical principles of natural philosophy, Cajori edition. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Newton, I. (1979). Opticks. New York, NY: Dover.
Westfall, R. S. (1990). Never at rest: A biography of Isaac Newton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences of Hamburg University and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany for a research fellowship during which this work was completed.
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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
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Assis, A. (2011). Newton and Inverse Problems. In: Krause, D., Videira, A. (eds) Brazilian Studies in Philosophy and History of Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 290. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9422-3_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9422-3_3
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