The Newton Project

An apple fell from a tree. What would be the first thought on your mind?

A) The apple looks delicious. B)There is a ghost here! C) Is this….Gravity?

There was a famous scientist in the 17th to 18th century by the name of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who chose Option C.

Renowned for all his work on science and discoveries, Sir Isaac Newton still has a big influence in the world. His printed writings and drawings used to be hard to find and to access for normal people. Then, technology has changed it all and provided a new privilege for us to enjoy.

The Newton Project, founded in 1998, is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to publishing all of Newton’s writings during his life. Over 6.4 millions words are being transcribed from his writings-whether they were printed or not. The site provides Newton’s Latin religious texts, as well as his texts from other areas such as science, math and alchemy.

http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=1

The Sources (assets) of this project are massive amount of digital or non-digital work of Isaac Newton. Apart from simply his scientific findings and written notes, Newton’s Latin religious texts, and texts from math and alchemy are also sources of this project. In accordance with the purpose of this project, which is to publish all of Newton’s writings online through consistent transcription, Newton’s works can be seen online by real pictures but can also be accessed with a diplomatic format.

The Process of this project started since 1998. Then in 2007, the project expanded its objective to produce an easy and accessible edition of Newton’s printed and unpublished writing to everyone.  All the documents published by Newton were rendered in a diplomatic/normalized form, using MathML and TEI-P5 econding. Where possible, documents provide catalog details, translations into English, and links to images of original document. The project published over four million words in a diplomatic transcribed format, composed of writings in physics, mathematics and theology with accompanying images of original texts. The transcription and encoding of all religious texts by Newton are also available online. Without hard effort, all documents can be easily found by anyone in a diplomatic format.

The Presentation of The Newton Project are fairly easy to follow. On the home site, there are different category of tabs that direct the viewers to information they want to access.

Each tabs on the top are: Home, The Texts, About Newton, Who are We and Support Us. 

The Home tab directs you to the starting home page. The Texts tab will give you selections of Newton’s work online and direct you to according page with necessary information. About Newton tab will direct you to information related to Sir Issac Newton himself, more emphasis on his personal life rather than his scholarly work. Who are We tab will provide introduction and explanation about The Newton Project and its history. Support Us tab will direct you to information regarding financial support toward this project.

In addition to these helpful tabs on top, there are four themed pictures each with names that will make the searching easier for viewers. Tour, Newton’s Works, His Notebooks, and His Correspondence. 

Tour will take you through the general history and profile of Sir Isaac Newton, on his life and work in different area of studies. Newton’s Works, His Notebooks, and His Correspondence will take you to page with necessary information about the theme you selected.

The information are presented differently by the type. When dealing with Newton’s personal history, a diagram is associated to help the readers with the explanation. Sometimes, visuals can really help. The works of Newton are well organized by titles and categories. Each information are separated to three options, Normalized Text, Diplomatic Text and Catalogue Entry. These different types of text option allow you to read and access the same information in a way more useful to you!

The Newton Project is here to help us learn more about one of the greatest figure in history, Sir Isaac Newton. 

Let’s start exploring!